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

OBJECTIVE: 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 gen...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Storti, Luana Baldin, Quintino, Débora Teles, Silva, Natália Michelato, Kusumota, Luciana, Marques, Sueli
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto / Universidade de São Paulo 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4996083/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27533264
http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.0580.2751
Descripción
Sumario:OBJECTIVE: 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.