Self-Reported Burden Among Informal Caregivers of Patients Receiving Psychiatric Hospital Treatment: A National Cross-Sectional Study.

The study was cross-sectional, so it can show associations but cannot prove that a caregiver characteristic, patient diagnosis or contact duration caused higher burden. Only 37% of invited caregivers responded, and caregivers were designated by patients, so caregivers who were not chosen or did not respond may differ. Patients unable to participate because of severe psychosis, dementia, moderate to severe mental disability, terminal illness or acute transfer to a somatic hospital were excluded, so the sample may not represent all psychiatric patients. Data were collected at fixed times and did not account for changes in the patient's condition over time. Some analyses had missing data, and the authors note possible response errors, misclassification and unmeasured confounding such as the caregiver's own mental health or socioeconomic status. The inpatient subgroup was much smaller than the outpatient subgroup, and most inpatient associations were not statistically significant. Qualitative comments were anonymised by using composite quotes, so the exact wording of individual caregivers is not preserved.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Research foundation of Central Denmark Region.

Do not read the higher odds among parents or caregivers of eating-disorder patients as proof that targeting those groups will reduce burden. This was an observational survey; no intervention was tested, and the study cannot establish cause.