OBJECTIVES: To examine the excess burden of caregiving for adult patients with unipolar depression (CAPUD) compared to caregiving for adult patients with other diseases (CAPOD) and compared to the general population in Europe.

METHODS: A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis was performed using data from the 2016 Europe National Health and Wellness Survey. CAPUD were compared to caregivers for adults who did not have unipolar depression but had other severe diseases (bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, cancer, chronic kidney disease, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, immune thrombocytopenia, macular degeneration, muscular dystrophy, osteoarthritis, or stroke) and to non-caregivers. Outcomes including health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (EQ-5D-5L), Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI), and healthcare resource utilization (HRU). Generalized linear models adjusted for covariates were used to estimate marginal means for each outcome.

RESULTS: Overall, CAPUD (n=1,380) were younger and female compared to other caregivers (n=6,470) or the general population (n=69,334) (mean age: 44±15, 48±16, and 48±16, respectively; % female: 62%, 58%, and 55%, respectively). Adjusting for covariates, an excess burden translated into lower quality of life for CAPUD, their EQ-5D-5L index was 0.63 versus 0.73 for the general population (p<0.001). Activity Impairment showed an increased burden on CAPUD (65.7%) compared to the general population (40.3%; p<0.001). The incremental burden was also observed in terms of HRU in the past 6 months, with CAPUD experiencing almost three times more emergency room visits compared to the general population (1.22 versus 0.44 visits in the past6 months, p<0.001), more provider visits (10.52 versus 6.82, p<0.001) and more hospitalizations (0,72 versus 0.25, p<0.001)

CONCLUSIONS: There is an incremental burden on caregivers of adult patients with unipolar depression compared to non-caregivers in terms on quality of life, productivity, and resource utilization and this burden is comparable to the burden on caregivers of adult patients with other severe diseases.