Background: Care of new stomas following colorectal resection often falls to caregivers, particularly in the early postoperative period. Whether this additional caretaking burden affects caregiver quality of life (QoL) is unknown.
HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that caregivers of patients with stomas have a poorer quality QoL in the perioperative period than caregivers of patients without stomas. Our aim was to quantify these differences over time using a validated QoL scale.
Methods: 170 caregivers of patients with or without stomas were evaluated prospectively using the Weitzner CQOLC (Caregiver Quality of Life—Cancer) scale. Caregivers of patients undergoing abdominal colorectal surgery for benign and malignant conditions between May 2005 and June 2006 were eligible. Surveys were administered preoperatively and at 2 and 6 weeks postoperatively. Mixed effects models were used to assess QoL in caregivers of patients with a new stoma vs. no stoma across time adjusting for confounders including age, gender, diagnosis (benign vs. malignant), procedure type (laparoscopic vs. open), and caregiver relationship.
Results: Caregivers of patients with new stomas (n=80) had poorer overall QoL scores at all time points than caregivers of patients without stomas (n=90) (p=0.005, mixed effects model) (see table). QoL improved over time in both groups (p<0.001). The difference between QoL scores for caregivers in both groups did not change over time. Older caregivers had better QoL (p<0.001). Caregiver relationship, gender, patient diagnosis, and procedure type did not impact QoL scores. CQOLC subscales revealed greater burden (p=0.002) and disruptiveness (0.001) in the stoma group, whereas positive adaptation and financial concerns were unaffected.
Conclusions: Caregivers of patients with stomas had a significantly poorer QoL that persisted throughout the pre- and postoperative period, driven largely by a greater sense of burden and disruptiveness. Caregiver QoL improved in both groups at 2 and 6 weeks.
Total score out of 140 for CQOLC (Standard error)

Group	Preop	2-weeks	6-weeks
Stoma (n=80)	98 (4)	99 (4)	103 (4)
No stoma (n=90)	104 (4)	109 (4)	111 (4)