(7 Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1997;62:10-15)

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Aims: To compare care recipient and caregiver perceptions of quality of life in patients (QoLp) with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To identify associated factors, and the concordancesdiscrepancies. Method:Cross-sectional analytic study of 236 patients and their carers using the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease (QoL-AD) scale, socio-demographic data and clinical examination. Results:Patients scored the QoL-AD more favourably than did caregivers (34.4 vs. 31.3, p<0.001). Cognitive deterioration did not affect the perception of QoL-AD (rho= -0.05, p=0.394). The neuropsychiatric symptoms was associated with a negative perception of the QOL-AD in both patients (rho= -0.22, p<0.01) and caregivers (rho= -0.47, p <0.001). Greater functional autonomy was associated with a better perception of the QOL-AD in patients (rho= 0.17, p<0.01) and even more so in caregivers (rho= 0.56, p<0.001). In carers, burden (rho= -0.56, p<0.001) and mental health (rho= 0.31, p<0.001) were inversely associated with the QoL-AD. QoL-AD scores of both patients and caregivers were higher for men, married subjects, those who lived with their spouse and those living in their own home. When the carer was a spouse both patients and caregivers scored the QoL-AD higher than when the carer was a son or daughter (35.5 vs. 33.4 and 33.7; 32.9 vs. 30.5 and 27.7, p<0,001). Conclusions

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