[Burden experienced by informal caregivers assisting Alzheimer's patients in the REAL.FR study]

Most AD patients are cared for at home by informal caregivers. The effect of different kind of stressors on caregivers has been referred to as caregiver burden.

To determine (1) the level of burden of informal caregivers of Alzheimer's patients in a French national sample; (2) the factors associated with a high level of burden.

Cross-sectional study of informal caregivers of the demented elderly referred to a psychogeriatric, geriatric or neurological service. The principal caregivers of 531 patients with mild to moderate dementia attending an outpatient cognitive assessment clinic were interviewed via a structured questionnaire that focused upon caregiver-related characteristics such as whether they were living with the patients, their feelings of burden assessed by the Zarit Burden Interview and patients were examined at baseline to evaluate their cognitive, behavioral and functional limitation.

Logistic regression analysis showed that patients' characteristics (MMSE, behavioral problems, nutritional problems), caregiver's characteristics (female gender, number of tasks involved in caregiving, cohabitation) and the provision of medical services were independently associated with a high level of burden. In this study increased caregiver burden was related independently to increased levels of patient behaviour disturbance and cognitive impairment. However, neither the illness duration nor the functional disabilities in activities of daily living affected the level of burden. This may have relevance to appropriate interventions for informal caregivers.