Caregivers for people with multiple myeloma face mental health challenges

Caregivers for patients with multiple myeloma may suffer from higher rates of anxiety and depression than patients themselves, according to a new study published today in Blood Advances. While medical professionals have long acknowledged the toll a serious or terminal diagnosis can have on a person's mental health, few studies have investigated how these conditions affect the family members, friends, and loved ones who care for these individuals.

A total of 127 caregivers for patients recently diagnosed with MM and receiving treatment within the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Network between June 2020 and January 2021. Researchers sorted participants into three cohorts based on the treatment regimen the patients they cared for were currently receiving. The caregivers completed questionnaires assessing their own quality of life and psychological distress, as well as their perceptions of their loved one's cancer prognosis.

Results highlighted that 44.1% of caregivers had symptoms of clinical anxiety, 15.8% had symptoms of depression, and 24.2% had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, when compared to patient symptoms as reported by the research team in a complementary study published in volume 128, issue 10 of Cancer, caregivers reported higher rates of clinical anxiety than patients with MM.

The study also uncovered a critical gap in communication between providers and caregivers. While most caregivers reported that their oncologist had informed them that their loved one's cancer was incurable, only 50.9% acknowledged that the patient's cancer was, in fact, terminal. Dr. O'Donnell voiced that wishful thinking, hope, and poor provider communications, could all play a role in this gap in understanding.

Researchers concluded that one thing they hope that people take away from this study is that health care providers really do care about people's experiences as they go through diseases such as multiple myeloma, and that they're not alone in their suffering.

Reference: "Caregivers for people with multiple myeloma face mental health challenges"; AMERICAN SOCIETY OF HEMATOLOGY, Blood Advances.