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Purpose <p>Older adults are increasingly taking up caregiving roles due to the mismatch between available formal care services and growing demands. We aimed to identify profiles of older caregivers according to their quality of life (QoL), and to explore the associations of such profiles with loneliness and social isolation.</p> Methods <p>A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using cohort data from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K). The study included a total of 994 unique caregivers aged 60 and above, assessed between 2001 and 2016. Multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis were used to obtain caregiver profiles according to the items of SF-12 QoL instrument. Multinomial logistic regressions with robust standard errors were performed to study the associations between QoL, loneliness and social isolation.</p> Results <p>Three distinct QoL profiles were identified: <i>good</i> (57.9%), <i>moderate</i> (34.8%), and <i>moderate physical</i>,<i> poor mental</i> (7.3%) QoL. The latter profile was characterized by the predominance of female spousal caregivers, who provided the most hours of care. Loneliness and social isolation were independently associated with higher odds of being in the <i>moderate physical</i>,<i> poor mental QoL</i> profile, compared to the <i>good QoL</i> profile. Men with higher social isolation levels were more likely to be in the worse QoL profile compared to women with similarly high levels of isolation.</p> Conclusion <p>Our findings emphasize that a substantial proportion of older caregivers have suboptimal QoL, and that those with poor mental QoL also experience higher levels of loneliness and social isolation. Targeted policies to reduce caregiver burden and enhance their QoL are essential.</p>

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Quality of life among older informal caregivers in Sweden: the role of loneliness and social isolation

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月1日

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  • Mariam Kirvalidze,
  • Maider Mateo-Abad,
  • Giorgi Beridze,
  • Amaya Bernal-Alonso,
  • Maria João Forjaz,
  • Carmen Rodríguez-Blázquez,
  • Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga

摘要

Purpose

Older adults are increasingly taking up caregiving roles due to the mismatch between available formal care services and growing demands. We aimed to identify profiles of older caregivers according to their quality of life (QoL), and to explore the associations of such profiles with loneliness and social isolation.

Methods

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using cohort data from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K). The study included a total of 994 unique caregivers aged 60 and above, assessed between 2001 and 2016. Multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis were used to obtain caregiver profiles according to the items of SF-12 QoL instrument. Multinomial logistic regressions with robust standard errors were performed to study the associations between QoL, loneliness and social isolation.

Results

Three distinct QoL profiles were identified: good (57.9%), moderate (34.8%), and moderate physical, poor mental (7.3%) QoL. The latter profile was characterized by the predominance of female spousal caregivers, who provided the most hours of care. Loneliness and social isolation were independently associated with higher odds of being in the moderate physical, poor mental QoL profile, compared to the good QoL profile. Men with higher social isolation levels were more likely to be in the worse QoL profile compared to women with similarly high levels of isolation.

Conclusion

Our findings emphasize that a substantial proportion of older caregivers have suboptimal QoL, and that those with poor mental QoL also experience higher levels of loneliness and social isolation. Targeted policies to reduce caregiver burden and enhance their QoL are essential.