BACKGROUND:
Caring for
patients with
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a burden to
caregivers since currently available
treatment modalities for PD depend on symptomatic
treatments. However, there have only been a few studies regarding the
caregivers of PD
patients. The authors investigated the burden,
depression, and
anxiety of the
caregivers of PD
patients.
METHODS:
Fifty-three main
caregivers of PD
patients were included. The burden,
anxiety, and
depression of the
caregivers were evaluated using the Zarit Burden
Inventory (ZBI), the Spielberger
State-trait
Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck
Depression Inventory.
RESULTS:
Twenty-one
male and 32
female patients had a mean age 61.4 years and a mean
disease duration of 7.5 years. The
caregivers included 29
men and 24
women with a mean age of 55.8 years. The
sex of the
patients (
male) and
caregivers (
female), the relation to the
patient (
daughter-in-
law), and frequency of
hospital visits were all significantly associated with the
caregiver's burden. Among the
disease characteristics, the duration, severity of PD, presence of motor fluctuation, and
levodopa-associated
confusion/
hallucination affected the
caregivers' burden significantly. The level of
depression and
anxiety was positively correlated with the level of burden. On a stepwise
regression analysis, the significant predictors of the
caregivers' burden were
ADL, UPDRS IV, and
state anxiety in order of strength.
CONCLUSIONS:
The
caregivers' burden in PD was affected by various demographic and
disease characteristics, which also correlated with the level of
depression and
anxiety. We suggest that comprehensive
treatment strategies for PD should be developed for the
caregivers as well as the
patients.