title: [Alzheimer's caregiver burden and psychological distress. A neglected association in the assessment of dementias].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caregivers of dementia patients have a high risk of developing mental disorders. Nevertheless, their burden is not routinely assessed during the clinical assessment of the Alzheimer's type dementia patients. This study was designed to evaluate the association between caregiver's burden and psychological distress and to estimate the prevalence of mental disorders among the caregivers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study of Alzheimer patients' caregivers (n = 40). The caregiver burden was assessed by the Zarit scale whereas the GHQ-28 was used to evaluate psychological distress.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Zarit caregiver burden scale was able to discriminate the psychic distress levels (area under the curve: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77 0.98). Its sensitivity (93%; 95% CI: 68.0 99.8) and specificity (80%; 95% CI: 59.3 93.2) were good for a cut-off point of 62/63. The estimated prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the caregivers was 20.7% (95% CI: 0.0 60.0%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Zarit caregiver burden scale is useful for assessing psychological distress and should be included in any clinical protocol devised to evaluate the needs of patients with dementia.
authors.affiliation: Clínica Padre Menni, Pamplona, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martín Carrasco
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ballesteros Rodríguez
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ibarra Gandiaga
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Loizaga Arnaiz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Serrano Valenzuela
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Larumbe Lizarraga
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aizcorbe Urroz
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Belenguer Abián
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires