Neuropsychiatric symptoms, quality of life and caregivers' burden in dementia

Réka Majer; Olar Adeyi; Zsuzsa Bagoly; Viktória Simon; László Csiba; László Kardos; Tibor Hortobágyi; Ede Frecska

doi:10.1515/med-2020-0124

Neuropsychiatric symptoms, quality of life and caregivers' burden in dementia

Open Med (Wars). 2020 Sep 14;15(1):905-914. doi: 10.1515/med-2020-0124. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Réka Majer^{1

2}, Olar Adeyi², Zsuzsa Bagoly^{3

4}, Viktória Simon⁵, László Csiba^{2

3}, László Kardos⁶, Tibor Hortobágyi^{2

7

8}, Ede Frecska¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
² Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
³ MTA-DE Cerebrovascular and Neurodegenerative Research Group, Debrecen, Hungary.
⁴ Division of Clinical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
⁶ Hygiene and Infection Control Services, Kenézy Gyula University Hospital, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
⁷ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary.
⁸ Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.

Abstract

The objective of this research is to identify the relationship between the neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) of patients with major neurocognitive disorder (mNCD), their quality of life, illness intrusiveness and the caregiver's burden. We assessed 131 patients with mNCD. Examination methods included WHO well-being index short version, illness intrusiveness rating scale, Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cog, Mini Mental State Examination and neuropsychiatric inventory. The results were analysed using standard statistical tests. In our sample, the prevalence of NPSs is 100%. A significant correlation (p < 0.0001) was observed with quality of life and illness intrusiveness. Additionally, a strong relationship was observed between NPSs and the caregiver's burden (r = 0.9). The result is significantly twice as much stronger in comparison to the relationship between NPS and cognitive symptoms (r = 0.4). This is the first study in Hungary to assess the impact of NPS on the burden of relatives and quality of life. NPS had twice stronger impact on caregivers' burden than cognitive decline. However, further studies are needed to assess the sub-syndromes in mNCD in relation to NPS.

Keywords: caregivers; caregivers’ burden; dementia; illness intrusiveness; neurocognitive disorders; neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia; quality of life.