RESUMEN
Objective To study the burden of care and mental health status of family caregivers of patients with Alzheimers disease (AD). Methods 216 family caregivers of patients with AD were assessed by the self-designed common questionnaire, burden of care scale (BCS), questionnaire of the changes of caregivers living and symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90). Results BCS and the changes of caregivers living revealed that the burden of care for patients with AD from high to low was as follows: economic burden (2.52?2.40), mental health (2.11?2.2), family living (2.02?2.11), family relationship (1.62?0.68), body health (1.12?0.33) and family activity (0.92? 0.95). The scores of SCL-90 factors, such as anxiety, depression, somatization and compulsion symptom, were higher in the study than in the norm model (P