Emotion Detection Deficits and Decreased Empathy in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease Affect Caregiver Mood and Burden

Abstract

Background: Changes in social cognition occur in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) and can be caused by several factors, including emotion recognition deficits and neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). The aims of this study were to investigate: (1) group differences on emotion detection between patients diagnosed with AD or PD and their respective caregivers; (2) the association of emotion detection with empathetic ability and NPS in individuals with AD or PD; (3) caregivers’ depression and perceived burden in relation to patients’ ability to detect emotions, empathize with others, presence of NPS; and (4) caregiver’s awareness of emotion detection deficits in patients with AD or Parkinson.Methods: In this study, patients with probable AD (N = 25) or PD (N = 17), and their caregivers (N = 42), performed an emotion detection task (The Awareness of Social Inference Test—Emotion Evaluation Test, TASIT-EET). Patients underwent cognitive assessment, using the Behavioral Neurology Assessment (BNA). In addition, caregivers completed questionnaires to measure empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, IRI) and NPS (Neuropsychiatric Inventory, NPI) in patients and self-reported on depression (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS) and burden (Zarit Burden Interview, ZBI). Caregivers were also interviewed to measure dementia severity (Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale) in patients.Results: The results suggest that individuals with AD and PD are significantly worse at recognizing emotions than their caregivers. Moreover, caregivers failed to recognize patients’ emotion recognition deficits and this was associated with increased caregiver burden and depression. Patients’ emotion recognition deficits, decreased empathy and NPS were also related to caregiver burden and depression.Conclusions: Changes in emotion detection and empathy in individuals with AD and PD has implications for caregiver burden and depression and may be amenable to interventions with both patients and caregivers.

Empathy and Theory of Mind in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Meta-analysis

“…When required data were unavailable, the corresponding author on the manuscript was contacted to request the data. The following studies were excluded because the data were not available (Martinez et al, 2018;Poveda et al, 2017;Rowse et al, 2013;Zaitchik et al, 2006). In certain instances, data were unavailable upon request due to specific participant groups not being assessed on the measures of interest (Cuerva et al, 2001;Dodich et al, 2016;Duclos et al, 2018;Fernandez-Duque, Baird, & Black, 2009;Youmans & Bourgeois, 2010).…”

Belastungen in der Betreuung von Parkinson-Patientinnen und - Patienten

“…verbessern, Belastungen für Betreuungspersonen scheinen sich laut jüngeren Studien aber nicht reduzieren lassen [40][41][42]45]. Neurokognitive Beeinträchtigungen [34,[52][53][54][55] Neuropsychiatrische Symptome, wie Depression, Angst, Apathie, Mangel an Empathie, Aggression, Halluzinationen und Impuls-Kontrollstörungen [15,33,[55][56][57][58][59][60] Nächtliche Symptome, inklusive Pollakisurie und Inkontinenz [61,62] Schlafstörungen [15,36] Autonome Störungen (z.B. orthostatische Hypotonie) [15] Dauer und Schweregrad motorischer Symptome, inklusive Fluktuationen sowie L-Dopa-Äquivalenzdosis und, indirekt, Therapie-Misserfolg (neuerer Therapien) [12, 33, 35-50, 63, 64] Komorbiditäten [65] Beeinträchtigungen in Alltagsaktivitäten und Abhängigkeit des Pfleglings von der Pflegeperson [15,25,33,66] Männliches Geschlecht [15,65] ▶Tab.…”

Understanding the Impact of Patients’ Disease Types on Caregiving Time and Caregiver Burden: An Analysis of the Health Information National Trends Survey

“…In other words, medical conditions that require the greatest caregiving time may not exert the greatest levels of burden to caregivers. One way to explain this nding is that though some medical conditions may require a less alarming amount of caregiving time, the intensity and emotion strain of caregiving involved in taking care of the patients may be equally, if not more, burdensome [18,28,31,32,[62][63][64]. While this nding helps shed light on the relationship between caregiving time and caregiver burden, it also emphasizes the need for more research to further chart factors that in uence caregiving time and caregiver burden (e.g., disease severity [65]).…”