title: Living with mild to moderate Alzheimer patients increases the caregiver's burden at 6 months.
abstract: The objective of our study was to demonstrate that living with a person affected by mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease can lead to an increased perception of the caregiver's burden using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). The sample consisted of 153 dyads, caregiver-patient. At baseline, a greater perception of the caregiver's burden was observed in the live-in caregivers. A further increase in the total burden of the live-in caregivers was noticed at the 6-month follow-up. More specifically, with the inclusion of correction factors such as the caregiver's age and the CBI subscales at baseline, the social and emotional burden becomes statistically significant (P < .001). The present paper confirms our hypothesis that live-in caregivers perceive a greater burden than nonlive-in, and this difference increases further after 6 months. The difference in involvement between live-in and nonlive-in caregivers could be the foundation to tailor more specific interventions.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Unit, Italian National Research Center on Aging, Ancona, Italy alessandraraccichini@tiscali.it.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raccichini
authors.affiliation: Biostatistical Center, Italian National Research Center on Aging, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Liana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Spazzafumo
authors.affiliation: Neurology Unit, Italian National Research Center on Aging, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Castellani
authors.affiliation: Neurology Unit, Italian National Research Center on Aging, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Civerchia
authors.affiliation: Neurology Unit, Italian National Research Center on Aging, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pelliccioni
authors.affiliation: Asur AV2, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: Osvaldo
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Scarpino
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000451:nursing*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; caregiver burden; emotional burden; live-in caregiver; social burden