 THURSDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Health care use increases in partners of cancer patients following the cancer diagnosis, according to research published online Aug. 31 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Katarina Sjovall, R.N., of Lund University in Sweden, and colleagues analyzed data from 11,076 partners of patients with colon, rectal, lung, breast, and prostate cancer to assess health care use and illnesses among partners before and after the cancer was diagnosed.
The researchers found that partners were more likely to be diagnosed with a condition in the year after the cancer diagnosis, with the largest increase seen in psychiatric diagnoses (relative risk, 2.02). This rise in psychiatric diagnoses was significant for partners of patients with colon, lung, and prostate cancer. Health care costs also increased for the partners.
"In conclusion, patients' type of cancer and disease stage has an impact on partners' reaction and its consequences in terms of health care use and health care costs. Being a partner of a person with cancer means an increased risk in psychiatric morbidity. With an increase in cancer incidence, treatments with longer duration and a major part of cancer care are provided on an outpatient basis, which means that the demands and burden on the family of the cancer patient are likely to increase," the authors write. "Discussion is needed about the responsibility for the care of the partner -- should oncology care also include the family?"
Abstract
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