title: Association between caregiver depression and individual behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in Taiwanese patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of this study was to investigate caregiver depression associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms in Taiwanese people.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional design was used in this study. Two hundred seventy-six pairs of patients with dementia and their caregivers who visited the memory clinic of a general hospital from July 2001 to October 2008 were recruited. Caregiver depression was evaluated with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D); the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia were evaluated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Demographic data of the patients and caregivers, including cognitive functions and clinical dementia ratings, were collected. In addition to descriptive statistics, we examined the relationship between each parameter and caregiver depression using Pearson correlation, independent t-test, or analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between the total Neuropsychiatric Inventory score and CES-D score (r = 0.345, P < 0.001) in the bivariate analyses. For individual behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, agitation/aggression, anxiety, nighttime behavior disturbances, irritability/lability, and hallucinations were the five leading symptoms significantly associated with caregiver depression (CES-D).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Carefully managing these symptoms is likely to reduce depression in dementia caregivers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan (R.O.C.).
authors.forename: Si-Sheng
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan (R.O.C.).
authors.forename: Yi-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Changhua Christian Hospital, Changhua, Taiwan (R.O.C.).
authors.forename: Wen-Fu
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000209:etiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Taiwanese; behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia; caregiver; dementia; depression