Abstract
Objective
The overall prevalence of mental health disorders among caregivers of patients with
Alzheimer disease (AD) remains unclear. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the prevalence
of various mental health disorders among caregivers of patients with AD globally and
to determine factors that predispose to development of the aforementioned, namely
gender of caregiver, gender of patient, and caregiver-patient relationship.
Methods
A total of 17 studies were eligible for systematic review and meta-analysis. A meta-analysis
of published work was performed using the random effect model. Data analysis was done
with RevMan 5.3. A total of 10,825 caregivers were assessed.
Results
The aggregate prevalence of depression among caregivers was 34.0%, anxiety at 43.6%,
and use of psychotropic drugs at 27.2%. Meta-analysis revealed the odds of having
of depression was 1.53 times higher in female caregivers (95% confidence interval
[CI] 1.29–1.83; I2 = 7%; Z = 4.78; P < .001), 1.86 times higher in caregivers to male care-recipients (95% CI 1.66–2.08;
I2 = 40%; Z = 10.86; P < .001), and 2.51 times higher in spousal caregivers (95% CI 1.68–3.76; I2 = 55%; Z = 4.49; P < .001).
Conclusion
Caregivers of patients with AD have a higher prevalence of mental health disorders,
particularly depression and anxiety, as compared with the general population and with
their counterparts caring for patients with other illnesses. The higher prevalence
is mainly observed in female caregivers, caregivers with male care-recipients, and
caregivers who have a spousal relationship with care-recipients. Prevalence of anxiety
was also notably higher in this cohort but more research needs to be done in this
area.
Keywords
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Article info
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
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© 2015 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
