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Factors associated with long-term impact on informal caregivers during Alzheimer’s disease dementia progression: 36-month results from GERAS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2019

Catherine Reed*
Affiliation:
Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Windlesham, UK
Mark Belger
Affiliation:
Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Windlesham, UK
J. Scott Andrews
Affiliation:
Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Antje Tockhorn-Heidenreich
Affiliation:
Eli Lilly and Company Limited, Windlesham, UK
Roy W. Jones
Affiliation:
RICE (The Research Institute for the Care of Older People), Royal United Hospital, Bath, UK
Anders Wimo
Affiliation:
Division of Neurogeriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Richard Dodel
Affiliation:
Chair of Geriatrics, University HospitalEssen, Germany
Josep Maria Haro
Affiliation:
Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Universitat de Barcelona, Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Catherine Reed, Eli Lilly and Company, Erl Wood Manor, Sunninghill Road, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6PH, UK. Phone: +44 (0)1276 483243; Fax: +44 1276 483192. Email: reed_catherine@lilly.com.

Abstract

Objective:

To identify, in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) dementia, factors associated with subjective (personal, physical, emotional, and social) and objective (informal caregiver time and costs) caregiver burden.

Design:

Prospective longitudinal European observational study: post-hoc analysis.

Setting:

Clinic.

Participants:

Community-dwelling patients in France and Germany aged ≥ 55 years (n = 969) with probable AD and their informal caregivers.

Measurements:

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study—Activities of Daily Living (ADCS-ADL), 12-item Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-12), Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), informal caregiver basic and instrumental ADL hours (Resource Utilization in Dementia instrument), and informal caregiver costs. Mixed-effect models of repeated measures (MMRM) were run, including baseline and time-dependent covariates (change from baseline [CFB] to 18 months in MMSE, ADCS-ADL, and NPI-12 scores) associated with CFB in ZBI score/informal caregiver time over 36 months (analyzed using linear regression models) and informal caregiver costs over 36 months (analyzed using generalized linear models).

Results:

Greater decline in patient function (ADCS-ADL) over 18 months was associated with increased subjective caregiver burden (ZBI), hours, and costs over 36 months. Increased behavioral problems (NPI-12) over 18 months also negatively impacted ZBI. Cognitive decline (MMSE) over 18 months did not affect change in caregiver burden.

Conclusions:

Long-term informal caregiver burden was driven by worsening functional abilities and behavioral symptoms but not cognitive decline, over 18 months in community-dwelling patients with AD dementia. Identifying the drivers of caregiver burden could highlight areas in which interventions may benefit both caregivers and patients.

Information

Type
Original Research Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© International Psychogeriatric Association 2019
Figure 0

Table 1. Baseline characteristics of patients and caregivers

Figure 1

Figure 1. Least squares (LS) mean change from baseline (±95% confidence interval) over 36 months in caregiver burden (Zarit Burden Index [ZBI] total score).

Figure 2

Figure 2. Estimates of change from baseline (CFB) over 36 months (±95% confidence interval) for (A) caregiver burden (Zarit Burden Index [ZBI] score); (B) caregiver basic activities of daily living (ADL) hours; (C) caregiver instrumental ADL hours; and (D) estimates of caregiver informal care costs over 36 months. All mixed-effects models of repeated measures (MMRM) were controlled for country and baseline scores and included patient and caregiver baseline covariates found to be significantly associated with each outcome of interest over 18 months; change in score from baseline to 18 months for four time-dependent patient covariates (Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE], Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study—Activities of Daily Living [ADCS-ADL] [basic and instrumental], and Neuropsychiatric Inventory-12 [NPI-12]); and baseline scores for these time-dependent covariates.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Least squares (LS) mean change from baseline over 36 months (±95% confidence interval) in (A) caregiver basic ADL hours; (B) caregiver instrumental ADL hours; and (C) LS mean caregiver informal care costs over 36 months.

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