Impact on Health-Related Quality of Life and Perceived Burden of Informal Caregivers of Individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

This study assessed the impact on health-related quality of life (HRQL) and the perceived burden of informal caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) on the Canary Islands (Spain). We utilized a multicenter, cross-sectional design, based on questionnaire responses of 237 informal caregivers of AD patients. Patients were classified according to the degree of severity utilizing the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale. Sociodemographic, HRQL (EQ-5D) and functional dependency data were gathered together with the degree of caregiver burden. Caregivers had a higher frequency of problems than did the general population for every EQ-5D dimension. Caregivers’ HRQL was inversely associated with the subject dependency level and caregiver age. HRQL was higher for more educated caregivers. Variables with a negative and/or significant effect on caregivers’ HRQL were high feelings of burden, more committed time to care, and older age. The caregiver burden quantified by the Zarit scale showed 83.3% of caregivers with a high level of burden.

Health-Related Quality of Life and Self-Efficacy of Managing Behavior Problems for Family Caregivers of Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease Patients

“…These results are consistent with a report [30] that older age of family caregivers is associated with poorer overall HRQoL. Whether the age of family caregivers has different effects on their mental and physical health-related outcomes will need to be further explored.…”

Violent Patient Behavior Is Associated with Bodily Pain and a High Burden on Informal Caregivers

“…These confounders were selected a priori based on previous studies regarding home care and caregiver burden. 12,13 Multivariable logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the relationship between violent patient behavior and bodily pain experienced by caregivers, with adjustment for caregiver burden assessed using Burden Index of Caregivers and the potential confounders described above. In this model, the Burden Index of Caregivers was recoded by tertiles.…”

“…7,8 Caregiver burden was originally defined by Zarit as the extent to which caregivers perceive that their emotional or physical health, social life, and financial status are suffering as a result of caring for their charges. 9,10 Several studies reveal a relationship between caregiver burden and the characteristics of patients with various diseases, 11,12 such as severe cognitive impairment. 13 In addition to caregiver burden, caregivers subjected to violent patient behavior may experience increased pain.…”

Differential features of burden between spouse and adult-child caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease: An exploratory comparative design

“…Some studies report that adult children show the highest levels of burden (Coen et al, 2002;Andrén and Elmståhl, 2007;Molyneux et al, 2008), whereas other state that the greatest burden is that experienced by spouse caregivers (Montgomery and Kosloski, 1994;Rinaldi et al, 2005;Serrano-Aguilar et al, 2006). Conversely, some authors have found no significant differences overall (Ferrario et al, 2003;Ankri et al, 2005;Turró-Garriga et al, 2008).…”