TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of dementia severity on caregiver burden in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer disease
AU - Mioshi, Eneida
AU - Foxe, David
AU - Leslie, Felicity
AU - Savage, Sharon
AU - Hsieh, Sharpley
AU - Miller, Laurie
AU - Hodges, John R.
AU - Piguet, Olivier
PY - 2013/1
Y1 - 2013/1
N2 - Caregiver burden is greater in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) than in Alzheimer disease (AD). However, little is known of the impact of the 3 main clinical variants of FTD - behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic dementia (SemDem), and progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) - or the role of disease severity in caregiver burden. The Zarit Burden Inventory was used to measure caregiver burden of bvFTD (n=17), SemDem (n=20), PNFA (n=20), and AD (n=19) patients. Symptom duration, caregiver age, and relationship type were matched across groups. Moreover, a number of caregiver (mood, social network) and patient variables (functional disability, behavioral changes, relationship with caregiver, and dementia stage) were addressed to investigate their impact on caregiver burden. Caregivers of bvFTD patients reported the highest burden, whereas SemDem and PNFA caregivers reported burden similar to AD. A regression analysis revealed that caregiver burden in FTD, regardless of subtype, was explained by a model combining disease staging, relationship changes, and caregiver depression. Burden increased with disease severity in FTD. This study is the first to show that caregivers of SemDem, PNFA, and AD patients show similar burden, while confirming that bvFTD caregivers show higher burden than AD caregivers. More importantly, this study demonstrates that burden worsens with disease progression in FTD.
AB - Caregiver burden is greater in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) than in Alzheimer disease (AD). However, little is known of the impact of the 3 main clinical variants of FTD - behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), semantic dementia (SemDem), and progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) - or the role of disease severity in caregiver burden. The Zarit Burden Inventory was used to measure caregiver burden of bvFTD (n=17), SemDem (n=20), PNFA (n=20), and AD (n=19) patients. Symptom duration, caregiver age, and relationship type were matched across groups. Moreover, a number of caregiver (mood, social network) and patient variables (functional disability, behavioral changes, relationship with caregiver, and dementia stage) were addressed to investigate their impact on caregiver burden. Caregivers of bvFTD patients reported the highest burden, whereas SemDem and PNFA caregivers reported burden similar to AD. A regression analysis revealed that caregiver burden in FTD, regardless of subtype, was explained by a model combining disease staging, relationship changes, and caregiver depression. Burden increased with disease severity in FTD. This study is the first to show that caregivers of SemDem, PNFA, and AD patients show similar burden, while confirming that bvFTD caregivers show higher burden than AD caregivers. More importantly, this study demonstrates that burden worsens with disease progression in FTD.
KW - caregiver burden
KW - caregiver-patient relationship
KW - depression
KW - disease progression
KW - disease severity
KW - frontotemporal dementia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84874273328&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/WAD.0b013e318247a0bc
DO - 10.1097/WAD.0b013e318247a0bc
M3 - Article
C2 - 22314247
AN - SCOPUS:84874273328
VL - 27
SP - 68
EP - 73
JO - Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders
JF - Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders
SN - 0893-0341
IS - 1
ER -