Neuropsychiatric symptoms of the elderly with Alzheimer's disease and the family caregivers' distress.

Luana Baldin Storti,Débora Teles Quintino,Natália Michelato Silva,Luciana Kusumota,Sueli Marques

doi:10.1590/1518-8345.0580.2751

Luana Baldin Storti, Débora Teles Quintino + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.0580.2751

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Abstract

ABSTRACTObjective: to analyze the relationship between the distress of the family caregiver and the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease or mixed dementia.Method: a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted in the Geriatric and Dementias Clinic of a general tertiary hospital, with 96 elderly people with Alzheimer's disease or mixed dementia and their family caregivers. Questionnaires to characterize the elderly and caregivers, and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory were used. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation test were performed. Results: 68.7% of the elderly were women, average age 80.8 years, 56.2% had Alzheimer's disease and 43.7%, mixed dementia. Among caregivers, 90.6% were women, average age 56, 70.8% took care of parents and 64.6% lived with the elderly. There was a strong (r = 0.82) and significant (p <0.01) correlation between the total score on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory and the total score on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Distress and strong (r = 0.80) and significant (p <0 01) correlation between the total score on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Distress and the number of neuropsychiatric symptoms, i.e., the higher the number, frequency and severity of these symptoms in the elderly, the more intense is the caregiver distress. Conclusion: the presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in the elderly was related to increased distress in caregivers.

Highlights

In the face of process of population aging, there is an increased prevalence of dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the presence of entanglement and brain plaques, lost connections, inflammation and eventual death of brain cells
The population consisted of elderly patients with a diagnosis of AD or mixed dementia (MD) treated at the clinic and their respective family caregivers, in the period between November 2013 and April 2014, considering the predefined criteria for inclusion or exclusion
As for the type of dementia, 54 (56,2%) of the elderly have a diagnosis of AD and 42 (43,7%), MD

Summary

Introduction

In the face of process of population aging, there is an increased prevalence of dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the presence of entanglement and brain plaques, lost connections, inflammation and eventual death of brain cells. Such changes lead to the loss of memory, changes in thinking and other brain functions. Because of the similarities in symptoms, pathophysiology and risk factors, AD and vascular dementia are not distinguished[1]. Considering these factors, many patients manifest the clinical picture of the two dementias, featuring mixed dementia (MD)(2)

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