Factors associated with caregiver burden in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
OBJECTIVE
Caregivers for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) suffer from psychological and financial burdens. However, the results of the relationship between burden and cognitive function, performance of activities of daily living, and depressive symptoms have remained inconsistent. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine which factors are more significant predictors of heightened burden, cognitive impairment or functional decline, besides neuropsychiatric symptoms.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study was conducted in a sample comprised of 1,164 pairs of patients with AD and caregivers from the Clinical Research of Dementia of South Korea study cohorts. The cognitive function of each sub-domain, functional impairments, depressive symptoms, and caregiver burden were assessed using the dementia version of Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB-D), Barthel Index for Daily Living Activities (ADL), Seoul-Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (S-IADL), the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Box (CDR-SB), the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS), the Korean version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI), and the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale.


RESULTS
We found that higher severity (higher CDR-SB and GDS scores) and more functional impairment (lower ADL and higher S-IADL scores) were significantly associated with higher caregiver burden. In addition, depressive symptoms of patients (higher Geriatric Depression Scale scores) were associated with higher caregiver burden.


CONCLUSIONS
Therefore, interventions to help maintain activities of daily living in patients with AD may alleviate caregiver burden and improve caregiver well-being.
Center for Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hyo Shin
HS
Kang
Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Woojae
W
Myung
Department of Neurology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Duk L
DL
Na
Department of Psychiatry, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Seong Yoon
SY
Kim
Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jae-Hong
JH
Lee
Department of Neurology, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Seol-Heui
SH
Han
Department of Neurology, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Seong Hye
SH
Choi
Department of Neurology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
SangYun
S
Kim
Biostatistics Unit, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Seonwoo
S
Kim
Center for Clinical Research, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea. ; Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Doh Kwan
DK
Kim
Activities of daily living; Alzheimer's disease; Caregiver; Cognition