OBJECTIVES: As a result of the ageing population, changing opportunities, as well as governmental healthcare cutbacks, inpatient care is shifting to outpatient care for many illnesses, including breast cancer. This increases responsibilities for families and friends of ill patients, which may impact on the caregivers’ abilities to work and financial situation. The aim of this study is to quantify and analyze the burden of informal caregivers for breast cancer patients in the Netherlands.

METHODS: The iMTA Valuation of Informal Care Questionnaire was used to evaluate the economic and health-related burden of informal caregiving for breast cancer patients. The survey was available online for responders during 6 months. Multiple regression analysis was performed to quantify correlations between informal caregiver and patient characteristics, as well as the amount of informal care given.

RESULTS: The survey yielded 37 complete responses. On average, informal caregivers of breast cancer patients spent 59 hours on informal care per month although 80.5% had a job (58.5% fulltime). 26% reported to experience financial burden caused by informal caregiving. A significant correlation was found between the caregivers personal health and the health from the person they provided care for (P=0.002). No correlation was found between cancer stage and the amount of informal care provided. The majority of caregivers valued an hour of informal care with €21-25 (29.4%).

CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer puts a significant burden on informal caregivers and should therefore be considered when evaluating novel treatments. Estimations on the amount of informal care provided by caregivers could be utilized in health economic evaluations.