title: Frontal lobe function in elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease and caregiver burden.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Understanding of the relationship between caregiver burden and the degree of behavioural deficits in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) is relatively limited. Therefore, it is worthwhile to examine the correlations between the various relevant factors to improve the efficacy of care for patients with AD. The aim of this study was to investigate the specific contributions of frontal lobe dysfunction in AD patients to caregiver burden, while controlling for other predictor variables.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants included 30 pairs of caregivers and patients with AD. The Zarit Burden Interview and Frontal Assessment Battery were used to measure the caregiver burden and patients' frontal lobe function, respectively. To investigate the effects of frontal lobe dysfunction on caregiver burden, hierarchical regression equations with steps incorporating additional predictor variables were fitted. We also performed a correlation analysis between the individual subdomains of the Zarit Burden Interview and the predictor variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our study suggests that the degree of frontal lobe dysfunction in AD patients predicts their caregiver burden, when other factors of daily functional limitations and neuropsychiatric symptoms are controlled. Daily functional limitations and neuropsychiatric symptoms affected caregivers' psychosocial burden, whereas frontal lobe dysfunction affected caregivers' burden due to the increase in the dependency of the patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that to ameliorate the disabilities of patients and reduce caregiver burden, there is a need for interventions that focus on psychosocial burdens, as shown in previous studies, as well as on excessive dependency due to frontal lobe dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiwamu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Fumihiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yasuno
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Junzo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Iida
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jikumaru
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University, Kashihara, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshifumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kishimoto
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D006233:Persons with Disabilities; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; caregiver burden; dementia; frontal lobe function