One Year Trajectory of Caregiver Burden in Parkinson’s Disease and Analysis of Gender-Specific Aspects

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a slowly progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder that leads to impairments in activities of daily living. In addition to reducing patients’ quality of life, this disease also affects caregivers’ well-being. Until recently, caregiver burden was mainly assessed by generic questionnaires, which do not take the characteristics of the chronic disease into consideration. In the case of PD, this issue has been addressed by the introduction of the “Parkinson’s disease caregiver burden” questionnaire (PDCB). Data on longitudinal trajectories of caregiver burden are still missing in the literature. In this study, we assessed the one-year trajectory of caregiver burden by the PDCB as a disease-specific questionnaire. Further, gender-specific aspects of caregiver burden were analyzed by applying a caregiver task questionnaire. PDCB total score (n = 84 patients and caregivers) did not significantly change from baseline (30.4) to one year at follow-up (31.5). No significant difference was detected between female and male caregivers in global burden and-specific caregiver tasks. Our data showed only a mild increase of caregiver burden in the timeframe of one year. Gender-specific differences do not seem to impact-specific caregiver tasks in the presented study population.

Relationship Satisfaction in People with Parkinson’s Disease and Their Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Observational Study

“…Moreover, patients had significantly increased depressive symptoms compared to caregivers. This is in line with previous studies, in which PwPD showed more severe depressive symptoms compared to their partners or caregivers [ 21 , 41 ] and the severity of depressive symptoms seemed to have a negative influence on the relationship satisfaction [ 21 ]. In contrast, Ricciardi et al described no influence of depressive symptoms on the relationship satisfaction in PwPD and their caregivers [ 22 ].…”

“…Contrary, Lee et al reported higher caregiver burden in male caregivers of PwPD while Sanyal et al could not detect gender specific differences in caregiver burden in a community-based study from India [ 51 , 52 ]. In former investigations in our cohort also no significant difference in gender specific caregiver burden could be identified, suggesting that the gender does not significantly impact burden [ 41 ] whereas relationship satisfaction in caregivers seems to be influenced by gender in our cohort.…”

“…Moreover, the participants in our study had an overall satisfying relationship as well as moderate restrictions in HR-QoL and mild to moderate caregiver burden. Unfortunately, severely affected patients and burdened caregivers denied the participation in this study, as described in former studies of our group [ 41 ]. Therefore, the quality of relationship in severely affected patients and burdened caregivers remains unclear.…”

Caring for a Relative with Dementia: Determinants and Gender Differences of Caregiver Burden in the Rural Setting

“…Regarding the projected increasing number of male caregivers, it is important to explore the differences in how men and women are coping with the challenges of caring for a PwD [27]. Many studies exploring gender differences in caregiving have reported a higher burden in women, although the results are inconsistent [28][29][30]. Several explanations can be considered for this imbalance.…”

Analysis of Transition of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease into Institutional Care: A Retrospective Pilot Study

“…Those relatives, mostly spouses, often become informal caregivers over the course of the disease. As shown in recent research, caring for PwP can cause mental and physical distress, resulting in a reduced quality of life and caregiver burden [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. It contains straining negative mental, physical and socioeconomic consequences resulting from caring for a person living with a chronic progressive disability [ 11 ].…”