Quality of Life, Psychological Distress, and Prognostic Awareness in Caregivers of Patients with Multiple Myeloma

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematologic malignancy requiring long-term, continuous therapy. Although caregivers of MM patients play a critical role in supporting their loved ones throughout the illness course, studies examining caregiver quality of life (QOL), psychological distress, and prognostic awareness are lacking.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, multisite study of patients undergoing treatment with MM (excluding maintenance therapy) and their caregivers between 6/2020-3/2021. Eligible caregivers were identified by the patient as the primary caregiver and enrolled to 1 of 3 cohorts based on lines of therapy: 1) newly diagnosed receiving first-line therapy; 2) 2-3 lines; 3) ≥4 lines of therapy. Caregivers completed validated questionnaires to assess their QOL, psychological distress, and perceptions of prognosis. Patients also completed validated questions to assess their perception of prognosis. We used descriptive statistics to describe caregiver QOL, psychological distress, and perception of prognosis. We then descriptively compared psychological distress and perception of prognosis between patient and caregiver dyads.

Results: We enrolled 127 caregivers of MM patients (newly diagnosed (n=43), 2-3 (n=40), and ≥ 4 lines of therapy (n=44)). Median caregiver age was 61.8 years (range 24.0-81.9); 71.7% (91/127) were female; and 68.5% (87/127) were taking care of their spouse/partner. Caregiver QOL and psychological distress did not differ by lines of therapy. The rate of clinically significant depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were 15.8% (20/127), 44.1% (56/127), and 24.4% (31/127), respectively. When examining dyads, caregivers reported higher rates of clinically significant anxiety symptoms (44.4% vs. 22.5%) compared to MM patients. Caregivers reported less clinically significant depression symptoms (15.3% vs. 24.2%) and similar rates of clinically significant PTSD symptoms (24.2% vs 25.0%). Overall, 89.6% (112/125) of caregivers reported that it is 'extremely' or 'very' important to know about the patient's prognosis and 55.6% (70/126) stated that they had received adequate information regarding the patient's prognosis. Caregivers reported that prognostic information was 'extremely' or 'very' helpful in making decisions about treatment (94.0%, 109/116), preparing for the future (88.6%, 101/114), and coping with the disease (85.2%, 98/115). Most caregivers (84.2%, 101/120), reported that the oncologist had told them the patient's cancer was incurable. In contrast, only 53.6% (59/110) of caregivers reported that they thought the patient's cancer was incurable and 37.9% (58/114) acknowledged that the patient is terminally ill. Caregiver demographics, line of therapy, QOL, and psychological distress were not associated with their perceptions of the patient's prognosis. When examined in dyads, caregivers were more likely to report that the patient is terminally ill (50.1% vs. 30.1%). There was no difference in caregivers' and patients' report that the oncologist said MM is incurable (83.3% vs. 84.2%).

Conclusions: Caregivers of patients undergoing treatment for MM experience substantial psychological distress across the disease continuum, particularly anxiety. Supportive care interventions are needed to improve caregivers' QOL and to reduce their psychological distress. Although the majority of caregivers of MM patients report that knowing the patient's prognosis is extremely important and report that the oncologist told them that the patient was incurable, a significant portion of caregivers report that the patient is curable. Interventions are needed to promote effective coping and to enhance caregiver's perception of the patient's prognosis to facilitate informed-decision making.