Relationship between Caregiver Burden and Cognitive Impairment in Adult Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Caregivers play a critical role in health management of patients with chronic diseases. Caregiving is associated with experiencing different emotional and psychological problems.

This study aims to determine the relationship between caregiver burden and cognitive function in adult patients with Type 2 Diabetes (T2D).

In this cross-sectional study, 215 family caregivers of adult patients with T2D were selected by a systematic random sampling method. A socio-demographic form, the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI), and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test, Spearman’s rho correlation test. The multinomial logistic regression model was used to examine the power of Cognitive Impairment (CI) in predicting the caregiver burden. P<0.05 was considered as the statistically significance level.

The mean age of caregivers and patients were 48±9 and 52±2 years, respectively. The mean score of CBI was 24.57±18.2, indicating a moderate level of caregiver burden. The mean score of MMSE was 25.25±3.6, indicating a mild CI in patients. Caregiver burden showed a significant correlation with cognitive function (r=-0.336, P=0.001, 95% CI; 0.53–0.89) such that the decreased CI was associated with an increase in total caregiver burden (r=-0.348, P=0.001, 95% CI; 0.43–0.87). The regression results showed that the CI levels were not predictors of caregiver burden severity.

The CI of patients with T2D may affect their caregivers’ burden. Therefore, assessing the cognitive function of these patients can help healthcare providers conduct interventions to enhance the caregivers’ quality of life.