Correlation between neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregiver burden in a population-based sample from São Paulo, Brazil: a preliminary report

Neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregiver burden are highly prevalent in older adults with Alzheimer's disease (AD).OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlation between neuropsychiatric symptoms and caregiver burden in a community-based sample from São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: A total of 1,563 randomly-selected subjects were assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination, Fuld Object Memory Evaluation, Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly and Bayer – Activities of Daily Living Scale. Subjects considered screen-positives were submitted to a dementia workup and diagnosis was determined according to ICD-10 criteria. The neuropsychiatric Inventory was applied to caregivers to evaluate neuropsychiatric symptoms and the Zarit Burden Interview was also applied to assess caregivers' burden. RESULTS: Sixty-one AD patients, 25 Cognitively Impaired Non Demented (CIND) and 79 healthy elderly subjects were evaluated. Zarit mean scores for controls, CIND and AD were 2.32, 3.92 and 20.11, respectively. There was strong positive correlation between total NPI and Zarit scores. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, neuropsychiatric symptoms showed a significant association with higher rates of caregiver stress.