title: Assessing Alzheimer's disease patients' quality of life: Discrepancies between patient and caregiver perspectives.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QOL) is an important dimension to consider in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but few large-scale studies have analyzed self and caregiver reports of patient QOL.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patient QOL was evaluated in a cohort of 574 AD patients with the QOL-AD scale over 2 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Caregiver reports of patient QOL were lower at baseline than self reports. Older patient age was associated with overestimation of QOL by caregivers, whereas neuropsychiatric inventory score and caregiver burden were associated with underestimation. Activities of daily living limitation, depressive symptoms, and caregiver burden were systematically associated with poorer QOL, whereas caregiver relationship and apathy were associated with poorer QOL only for self reports or caregiver reports, respectively. Cognitive function and professional care were not associated with QOL. Self-rated patient QOL did not change over time, whereas disease severity markers and caregiver-rated patient QOL declined.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is important to assess both self and caregiver ratings when assessing patient QOL.
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; CHU Toulouse, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Toulouse, France. Electronic address: sandrine.andrieu@univ-tlse3.fr.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Andrieu
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; CHU Toulouse, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Coley
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; Gerontopole, CHU Toulouse, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Rolland
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; Gerontopole, CHU Toulouse, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cantet
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; CHU Toulouse, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arnaud
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; Gerontopole, CHU Toulouse, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guyonnet
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; Gerontopole, CHU Toulouse, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Fati
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nourhashemi
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; CHU Toulouse, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grand
authors.affiliation: Inserm-Toulouse University UMR1027, Toulouse, France; Gerontopole, CHU Toulouse, Department of Geriatric Medicine, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vellas
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D057566:Self Report; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Caregivers; Longitudinal; Proxy report; QOL-AD; Quality of life