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 exposesthe caregiver to a potentially higher risk of physical and mentalproblems. We measured health-related quality of life (HRQOL) andits determinants among the caregivers of the Iranian survivors of theIran-Iraq war (1980–1988) with bilateral lower-limb amputation.Methods: Data were collected from 464 individuals comprisingwar-related bilateral lower-limb amputees (n=232) and theircaregivers (n=232) in January 2015 in Shiraz, Iran. The 36-ItemShort-Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire was used toevaluate the caregivers’ QOL. Logistic regression analysis wasperformed to determine the most significant contributing factors.Results: The mean age of the caregivers and the amputees was39.4±6.2 and 42.5±6.2 years, respectively. The mean durationof disability was 22.8±3.9 years in the amputees. Most of thecaregivers were reported to be in their first marriage. The highestand lowest mean scores of the SF-36 domains in the samplepopulation were observed for physical function (76.65±21.97)and bodily pain (53.54±24.95). QOL in the caregivers wassignificantly lower than that in a sample of the general Iranianfemale population (P<0.05). History of hospitalization duringthe 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: 1.02to 3.15, P=0.04) in the amputees constituted the most importantpredicting factors in the caregivers’ QOL.Conclusion: The caregivers of the bilateral lower-limb amputeesin the current study suffered from a poor QOL. Hospitalization andmental problems were the most significant contributing factorsvis-à-vis the caregivers’ HRQOL. Health care and services should,therefore, be provided to both amputees and their caregivers.