Availability of Informal Caregivers for Palliative Care Patients with Cancer: Is there a Difference between Higher- and Lower-Income Settings.
Open accessAbstract
Family caregivers are the default caring personnel for terminal cancer patients. The characteristics, demographics, distribution, psychological burden, and socioeconomic standards differ between high- and low-income countries. We aimed to assess those factors and their direct reflection on both the patient and the caregiver.This is a comparative cross-sectional study for terminal cancer patients in the palliative care unit between the United Kingdom (UK) as a high-income community and Egypt as a low-income community. We assessed the different characteristics, demographics, living place, the degree of relevance, and the availability of caregivers.We have recruited 216 patients from the UK and 117 patients from Egypt. Informal caregivers were available in 74.5% and 92.3% for these patients with a mean age of 71.5 (standard deviation [SD] 16) years and 50.9 (SD 15.18) years, respectively. There has been a statistically significant difference between the two countries' caregivers in being married, family, and living in the same household (P < 0.0001).Low-income countries are more common to have an informal caregiver who is a family member of different degree of relevance. Caregivers in low-income settings tend to be younger, of the female gender, married, and living in the same household than in high-income ones.
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Caregivers have a central role in cancer care, especially in low-resource settings in the United States and parts of Europe and in low-income to middle-income countries.
“Given the growing evidence regarding the interdependence of patient and caregiver well‐being 110 , 111 , 112 and caregivers' central role in cancer care, especially in low‐resource settings in the United States and parts of Europe and in low‐income to middle‐income countries, 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 , 131 , 132 , 133”
From Nonpharmacologic interventions for managing distress, anxiety, and depression for patients with cancer and their family caregivers: A systematic review and meta‐analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [127]
The Introduction calls family caregivers a cornerstone of long-term cancer care, citing shortages of health-care resources and personnel. The study compares a lower-income setting in Egypt with the UK, but it does not establish caregivers’ role specifically in low-resource settings in the United States or parts of Europe. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredInformal caregivers are not adequately prepared to handle end-of-life care for patients with advanced cancer.
“It is widely recognized that informal caregivers are not adequately prepared to handle end-of life-care for patients with advanced cancer [5, 6].”
From Preparedness, resilience and unmet needs of informal caregivers of advanced cancer patients in a Regional Mission Hospital in Kenya: Qualitative Study (2023) · cites this paper as [6]
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- Authors
- Shohdy, K., Abdel-Malek, R., Farag, D., & Cox, S.
- Affiliations
- Cairo University (EG)
- Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (GB)
- Venue
- Indian Journal of Palliative Care
- Publisher
- Scientific Scholar
- Published
- 2019
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 379
- ISSN
- 0973-1075 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6659530
- OpenAlex
- W2971465698
- Cited by
- 15
- References
- 20
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 0.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Locations
- Indian Journal of Palliative Care (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Palliative and Oncologic Care
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Nursing care and research
- Keywords
- informal caregivers, family caregivers, palliative care, terminal cancer, caregiver availability, caregiver demographics, caregiver gender, caregiver age, socioeconomic status, United Kingdom, Egypt
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