Impact of donepezil treatment for Alzheimer's disease on caregiver time.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the impact of donepezil treatment compared with placebo on caregiver time spent assisting patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).


METHODS
Patient and caregiver data were collected as part of a 1-year, prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The Resource Utilization in Dementia (RUD) questionnaire was used to record caregiver time at study baseline and at Weeks 12, 24, 36, and 52. This analysis focuses solely on those caregivers who were actively (> 0 h/day reported on the RUD) providing care at study baseline.


METHODS
The change in time relative to baseline that caregivers spent assisting patients over the course of the study.


RESULTS
The active caregiver population was composed of 96 caregivers of donepezil-treated patients and 94 caregivers of patients receiving placebo. Over the course of the 1-year study, and as the condition of the AD patients deteriorated, it was expected that caregiver time would increase. As expected, after 52 weeks, caregivers of placebo patients were providing almost 2 h each day (106.8 min) more care than they had done at study baseline. For those caregivers of donepezil-treated patients, although they were spending more time caring than they had done at study baseline, their time burden had only increased by 42.6 min more each day. This difference in caring time between the 2 groups, relative to baseline at Week 52, was 1.1 h (64.2 min) each day, and was significant (p = 0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Caregiver time devoted to helping an AD patient typically increases with the severity of the disease. By helping the patient maintain his/her ability to perform activities of daily living for longer, treatment with donepezil is not only beneficial to the patient, but also has positive time-burden implications for the caregiver.
Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden. Anders.Wimo@neurotec.ki.se
Anders
A
Wimo
Bengt
B
Winblad
Sonali N
SN
Shah
Warren
W
Chin
Richard
R
Zhang
Thomas
T
McRae
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017028:Caregivers; D000077265:Donepezil; D006701:Home Nursing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007189:Indans / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018697:Nootropic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010880:Piperidines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013997:Time Factors
D007189:Indans; D018697:Nootropic Agents; D010880:Piperidines; D000077265:Donepezil