The Relationship between caregiver burden and anxiety and depression in caregivers of Alzheimer's elderly

Providing long-term care to Alzheimer's patients is associated with increased risk of physical and mental illness for caregivers. The purpose of this study was to determine the burden of caregiving burden and to investigate the relationship between anxiety, depression and burden burden in caregivers of elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease.

In this cross-sectional study, 315 caregivers aged 20 to 85 years who had direct care of the elderly with Alzheimer's disease for at least 6 months were selected by voluntary sampling. Data collection was done in 1398. The research environment was the Alzheimer's Society of Iran. Data were collected by Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Caregiver Stress Inventory (CBI) and analyzed by SPSS version 22. Frequency percentages, independent T-test, ANOVA were used to achieve the research objectives.

The majority of Alzheimer's caregivers endured moderate to severe care burden in this study, 209 (65.9%). The correlation between caregiver burden and anxiety (0.65) and depression (0.52) was significant (P <0.005). The level of anxiety and depression among most normal to mild caregivers were (71.9%) and (51.7%) respectively. (83%) estimated.

Given the significant relationship between anxiety and depression and burden of caregiving in this study, the health of caregivers of Alzheimer's elderly is an important health issue that needs serious consideration by health professionals and health care providers.