Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jul 1:10:1085-90.
doi: 10.2147/CIA.S74439. eCollection 2015.

Depressive symptoms in caregivers of patients with dementia: demographic variables and burden

Pasquale De Fazio  1 , Paola Ciambrone  1 , Gregorio Cerminara  1 , Elvira Barbuto  1 , Antonella Bruni  1 , Patrizia Gentile  1 , Amalia Talarico  2 , Roberto Lacava  2 , Pietro Gareri  2 , Cristina Segura-García  1
Affiliations

Depressive symptoms in caregivers of patients with dementia: demographic variables and burden

Pasquale De Fazio et al. Clin Interv Aging. .

Abstract

Objective: Individuals suffering from dementia are affected by a progressive and significant global deterioration and, consequently, might require longer assistance in the advanced stage of the illness. The illness is a great burden on the person who takes care of a patient, namely, the caregiver. This study aims to analyze the presence and relationship of specific sociodemographic variables, subjective burden, and depressive symptoms among caregivers of patients with dementia.

Methods: The participants of this study were caregivers at a health care unit for the elderly in southern Italy. An evaluation of the burden of patients with dementia on caregivers was carried out using the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and depressive symptoms using the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS).

Results: A total of 150 caregivers completed the study. In all, 83 (55%) caregivers showed a total CBI score ≥36, of whom 70% showed pathological depression scores in SDS. According to SDS, 28 (19%) caregivers showed a total CBI score from 24 to 36, of whom 32% were depressed. Depression was present in 5% of the caregivers whose CBI score was <24. Hence, an association between burden and depression was evident (χ(2)=47.446, P<0.001). A multiple linear regression analysis showed that depression (adjusted R(2)=0.622, F=50.123, P<0.001) was associated with higher physical (β=0.666, P=0.001) and developmental (β=0.712, P<0.001) burdens, lower socioeconomic status (β=-4.282; P=0.002), higher level of urbanicity (β=3.070; P=0.012), and advanced age (β=2.132; P=0.08).

Conclusion: Our study confirms the presence of depressive symptoms in a large number of caregivers with high burden. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that depressive symptoms are mainly associated with sociodemographic variables and, to a lesser degree, physical and developmental burdens.

Keywords: caregiver; dementia; depression; developmental burden; elderly; physical burden.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Prince M, Bryce R, Albanese E, Wimo A, Ribeiro W, Ferri CP. The global prevalence of dementia: a systematic review and metaanalysis. Alzheimers Dement. 2013;9(1):63–75. - PubMed
    1. Cole JC, Ito D, Chen YJ, Cheng R, Bolognese J, Li-McLeod J. Impact of Alzheimer’s disease on caregiver questionnaire: internal consistency, convergent validity, and test-retest reliability of a new measure for assessing caregiver burden. Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2014;12(1):114. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Peña-Longobardo LM, Oliva-Moreno J. Caregiver burden in Alzheimer’s disease patients in Spain. J Alzheimers Disease. 2015;43(4):1293–1302. - PubMed
    1. Truzzi A, Valente L, Ulstein I, Engelhardt E, Laks J, Engedal K. Burnout in familial caregivers of patients with dementia. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria. 2012;34:405–412. - PubMed
    1. Ostwald SK. Caregiver exhaustion: caring for the hidden patients. Adv Pract Nurs Q. 1997;3:29–35. - PubMed