Caregiver burden associated with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in elderly people in the local community

BACKGROUND: Despite many studies about the association between caregiver burden and behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD), there have been no population-based studies to evaluate caregiver burden associated with each BPSD. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate caregiver burden associated with the individual BPSD in elderly people living in the community. METHODS: The subjects were 67 participants with dementia living with their caregivers (diagnosed in the third Nakayama study): 51 Alzheimer's disease, 5 vascular dementia and 11 other. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and NPI Caregiver Distress Scale (NPI-D) were used to assess subjects' BPSD and related caregiver distress, respectively. RESULTS: In the subjects exhibiting BPSD, aberrant motor behavior had the highest mean NPI score, and depression/dysphoria had the lowest. Agitation/aggression had the highest mean NPI-D score, and euphoria/elation had the lowest. Delusion, agitation/aggression, apathy/indifference, irritability/lability and aberrant motor behavior showed a correlation between the NPI and NPI-D scores. CONCLUSION: The burden associated with BPSD is different for each symptom and does not always depend on frequency and severity of BPSD. These findings suggest that some symptoms, such as agitation/aggression and irritability/lability, may affect the caregivers significantly, although their frequency and severity are low.