Sleep quality and caregiver burden in Alzheimer's disease: focus on sex differences

The relationship between sleep characteristics in caregivers and care recipients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and caregiver burden, especially regarding sex-related differences, still needs to be clarified. The aims of the present study were to examine associations between caregiver and patient sleep characteristics and caregiver burden, including sex-differences and menopausal status among female caregivers.

The SexDemCare study is a multicenter Italian study conducted within the SINdem Study Group "Sex and Gender Differences in Dementia." Caregivers and their non-institutionalized care recipients with clinically diagnosed AD across different stages of disease severity were enrolled. The Caregiver Burden Inventory was administered. Sleep characteristics of both caregivers and care-recipients were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index.

238 caregivers (65.9% women; mean age 59.6 ± 12.4 years) and 238 care-recipients (153 women; mean age 77.5 ± 7.9 years) were enrolled. Caregiver burden was associated with snoring, daytime hypersomnolence, longer sleep latency, and use of sleep medication. In sex-stratified analysis, caregiver burden was associated with several sleep characteristics only among female caregivers.

Female caregivers may be especially vulnerable to the negative consequences of poor sleep on caregiving burden.