determinants of quality of life in the caregivers of iranian war survivors with bilateral lower-limb amputation after more than two decades

background: providing care to a disable relative at home exposes the caregiver to a potentially higher risk of physical and mental problems. we measured health-related quality of life (hrqol) and its determinants among the caregivers of the iranian survivors of the iran-iraq war (1980–1988) with bilateral lower-limb amputation. methods: data were collected from 464 individuals comprising war-related bilateral lower-limb amputees (n=232) and their caregivers (n=232) in january 2015 in shiraz, iran. the 36-item short-form health survey (sf-36) questionnaire was used to evaluate the caregivers’ qol. logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the most significant contributing factors. results: the mean age of the caregivers and the amputees was 39.4±6.2 and 42.5±6.2 years, respectively. the mean duration of disability was 22.8±3.9 years in the amputees. most of the caregivers were reported to be in their first marriage. the highest and lowest mean scores of the sf-36 domains in the sample population were observed for physical function (76.65±21.97) and bodily pain (53.54±24.95). qol in the caregivers was significantly lower than that in a sample of the general iranian female population (p<0.05). history of hospitalization during the preceding year of the study (or: 2.23, 95% ci: 1.08 to 4.57, p=0.02) and mental health problems (or: 1.79, 95% ci: 1.02 to 3.15, p=0.04) in the amputees constituted the most important predicting factors in the caregivers’ qol. conclusion: the caregivers of the bilateral lower-limb amputees in the current study suffered from a poor qol. hospitalization and mental problems were the most significant contributing factors vis-à-vis the caregivers’ hrqol. health care and services should, therefore, be provided to both amputees and their caregivers.