title: [The chronically ill at home and the impact in main caregivers].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyse the repercussions that caring for chronically sick patients at home can have on the health of the main carers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive crossover study.
  
  
  METHODS
  "Raval Nord" Health District, Barcelona.
  
  
  METHODS
  All the 336 chronically sick at home recorded in the home-care programme during January to March 1996. All the 236 carers identified during the same period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  75% of the patients and 72% of those considered the main carers answered a home questionnaire. Most of the chronically ill at home were women (67%), with an average age of 81 (SD, 11). 18% presented severe disorders in the Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ), test which showed a significant relationship (p < 0.0001) with less autonomy according to the Katz index. 36% of carers remarked physical problems such as repeated back-aches and lumbago.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The most important disorders affecting the autonomy and mental health of chronic patients at home lead to increased psychological malaise in the career, especially if he/she is a family member.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Segura Noguera
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bastida Bastús
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Martí Guadaño
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riba Romeva
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006701:Home Nursing; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
vernacular_title: Los enfermos crónicos domiciliarios y su repercusión en los cuidadores principales.