title: Caregiver time use in ALS.
abstract: The authors evaluated the caregiver time for 70 patients with ALS. The mean number of caregivers per patient was 2.0 (SD 1.3). Caregiver time increased with worsening of disability (p = 0.0001). The most time-consuming duties were housekeeping, feeding, and toileting. With worsening of patients' disability, families relied increasingly on paid caregivers. Caregiver time is a hidden cost of ALS care and is a major burden for caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Turin, Torino, Italy. achio@usa.net
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiò
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gauthier
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vignola
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calvo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghiglione
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cavallo
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Terreni
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mutani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000600:supply & distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors