Caregiver Burden and its Determinants among the Family Members of Patients with Dementia in Iran

Background: “caregiver burden” is actually an expressionaddressing the adverse consequences of the care provided to thepatients’ with dementia. review of the previous studies revealsa higher rate of depression and anxiety among the caregivers ascompared to the general population. this study has been designedto evaluate the caregiver burden and then the factors influencing itamong caregivers of patients with dementia in iran.methods: in this cross?sectional study, 153 patients and theircaregivers registered in the memory clinic in roozbeh hospitaland iranian alzheimer association (iaa) were included. datacollection scales were iranian version of caregiver burden,global deterioration scale and barthel index. multiple linearregression model was applied to determine the factors influencingthe caregiver burden.results: out of the 153 patients, 90 were male. the meanage calculated for the patients and the caregivers was 77.1 and53, respectively. the mean of caregiver burden was 55.2. threevariables, gender (p < 0.01), education of the patient (p < 0.005 forilliterate patients), and the patient’s dependence on the caregiverfor his/her daily tasks (p < 0.000)) were correlated with a high levelof burden on the caregiver. the recommended model explains0.664% of the variance of the outcome variable.conclusion: presence of either moderate or higher levels ofburden (58?116) in more than 50% of the caregivers of thesepatients’ highlights the need for more attention from health policymakers in iran. promoting the level of caregivers’ quality of lifealong with enabling the patients in performing their daily tasks inorder to reduce the imposed burden on caregivers’ is recommended.