Caregiver Social Status and Health-Related Quality of Life in Neurologically Impaired Children on Home Enteral Nutrition

We aimed to investigate the association between caregiver social status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with neurological impairment (NI) on home enteral nutrition (HEN). This was an ancillary study of a multicenter, cross-sectional study which explored HRQoL in 75 NI children on HEN. All the caregivers from the original cohort were contacted, and data on education level, occupation and marital status were collected. The association between social status and HRQoL was investigated using a multiple Poisson Generalized Linear Model. In total, 93 caregivers were included, responsible for the care of 71 children. The caregivers of four children of the original cohort did not answer the questionnaire. Mothers with high-level education presented lower HRQoL in comparison to mothers with low-level (beta: -5.97; 95% CI -11.51, -0.10; p = 0.027) or medium-level education (beta: 4.85; 95% CI -9.87, 0.53; p = 0.044). The analysis of the subgroup of cases in which the main caregiver was represented by both parents gave similar findings, with education level of the father being negatively correlated with HRQoL. Our data showed that higher education level may negatively affect quality of life of caregivers of NI children. This could be helpful in identifying at-risk families and addressing supportive efforts.

Automated summary

This study investigated the association between caregiver social status and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with neurological impairment (NI) on home enteral nutrition (HEN). The findings revealed that mothers with high-level education had lower HRQoL compared to mothers with low or medium-level education. These results can help in identifying at-risk families and providing support.