Journal article 379 views 64 downloads
Health of unpaid carers in Wales, UK: a population data linkage study
,
Jiao Song,
Alisha R Davies
Journal of Public Health, Volume: 46, Issue: 1, Pages: 144 - 150
Swansea University Author:
Fangzhou Huang
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© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/pubmed/fdad207
Abstract
Background: The population of unpaid carers in Wales increased to record. There is no systematic approach to record unpaid caring status, resulting in limited quantitative evidence on unpaid carers’ health. The aim of this study is to: (i) create an e-cohort of unpaid carers by linking routinely col...
| Published in: | Journal of Public Health |
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| ISSN: | 1741-3842 1741-3850 |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press (OUP)
2024
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64940 |
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| Abstract: |
Background: The population of unpaid carers in Wales increased to record. There is no systematic approach to record unpaid caring status, resulting in limited quantitative evidence on unpaid carers’ health. The aim of this study is to: (i) create an e-cohort of unpaid carers by linking routinely collected health and administrative datasets in Wales, UK. (ii) investigate whether long-term health conditions and multimorbidity are more prevalent amongst unpaid carers than non-carers. Methods: Unpaid carers were identified by linking primary care dataset, National Survey for Wales data with demographic characteristics in the Secure Anonymise Information Linkage Databank. The clinical codes identified in Cambridge Multimorbidity Score were used to explore the prevalence of long-term health conditions. Results: A total of 91 220 unpaid carers in Wales were identified between 1 January 2010 and 1 March 2022. Unpaid carers were found at higher risk of managing 35 of 37 long-term health conditions and multimorbidity than non-carers, exacerbated amongst younger age groups and deprived communities. Conclusions: The creation of the first e-cohort of unpaid carers in Wales provides opportunities to perform rapid analysis to systematically understand health needs and evaluate initiatives in future. To better support unpaid carers, flexible approaches focusing on early identification and prevention is crucial. |
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| Keywords: |
Carers, morbidity and mortality, public health |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
This work was supported by Public Health Wales. |
| Issue: |
1 |
| Start Page: |
144 |
| End Page: |
150 |