Abstract
OBJECTIVESThe characteristics of depressive symptoms in the family members of home-dwelling patients with dementia have not been clearly reported. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of depressive symptoms in middle-aged family members living with a patient with dementia.METHODSThis study used the data from the nationwide 2017 Korea Community Health Survey. Among the 228,381 survey participants, 77,276 participants in their 40s and 50s were finally selected for this study. The participants consisted of 760 family members of home-dwelling dementia patients and 76,516 general family members comprising a control group.RESULTSThe positive rate of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)-measured depressive symptoms was significantly higher in the family members of home-dwelling dementia patients (4.4%; control group: 1.9%). After adjusting for potential confounders, the prevalence of PHQ-measured depressive symptoms was 1.72 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03 to 2.85) higher in the family members of home-dwelling dementia patients compared to the control group. The positive rate of depressive symptoms was 2.26 times higher (95% CI, 1.26 to 4.05) in the female middle-aged family members of home-dwelling dementia patients compared to the control group. In addition, those who reported having symptoms almost every day in the PHQ-9 questions had significantly higher positive rates on questions about loss of interest, depression, sleep disturbance, fatigue, poor appetite, and suicidal ideation, and not on questions regarding feelings of worthlessness and psychomotor agitation, compared to the control group.CONCLUSIONSActive interventions are needed to relieve depression in the family members of home-dwelling dementia patients.
Highlights
Dementia is a fatal disease that affects over 46.8 million people worldwide
The proportion of family members aged 50-59 years of home-dwelling dementia patients was 60.2%, and the proportion of those aged 40-49 years was 39.8%. The proportion of those aged 40-49 years was 51.3%, and the proportion of those aged 50-59 years was 48.7%. The proportion of those with a household income < 1 million Korean won (KRW) was higher in the families of home-dwelling dementia patients (11.0%) than in the general families in the control group (2.9%), whereas the proportion of those with a household income ≥ 3 million KRW was higher in the control group (74.5%) than in the families of home-dwelling dementia patients (51.9%)
The proportion of those who were unemployed was higher in the families of home-dwelling dementia patients (25.3%) than in the general families in the control group (20.5%)
Summary
Dementia is a fatal disease that affects over 46.8 million people worldwide. This figure is expected to double every 20 years, reach-. As a dementia-related policy in Korea, the National Responsibility System for Dementia was implemented in 2017, and started providing various services for patients with dementia and their family members. Various programs such as self-help groups and vocational programs for family caregivers of patients with dementia are being implemented, their effect on alleviating care burden among family caregivers is insignificant [3].
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