Physical and mental health problems in parents of adolescents with burns--a controlled, longitudinal study

OBJECTIVE: Caregiving has been described in the literature as a risk factor for ill health in the carer. This controlled, prospective study examines the course of physical and mental health problems in parents of adolescent survivors of a mass burn incident. METHODS: Health information was extracted from electronic medical records. Continuous data were available for 1 year before and 4 years after the fire. Cohorts comprised 273 parents of survivors with burns, 199 parents of survivors without burns, and 1756 controls. Post-fire increases in health problems were compared by means of logistic regression. RESULTS: Parents of burn victims were more likely to present mental health problems during the first 2 years after the incident, when compared to the baseline. Moreover, they were more likely to present cardiovascular health problems in every year following the disaster, compared to the baseline. Increases observed in mental and cardiovascular health problems were significantly larger in parents of burn victims compared to controls. Risk factors for presenting mental health problems were female gender of the parent and a large burn size in the child. Lower socioeconomic status and female gender of the parent predicted cardiovascular health problems. CONCLUSION: Evidence gained in longitudinal studies informs on which health problems are most likely to develop in parental caregivers. In the interest of both parent and child, a family-oriented approach is proposed.