Health‐related quality of life of people with dementia and their caregivers

Background Over the last decades dementia has been a major public health challenge. Caregivers burden is increasing as the disease progresses and the behavior of the person who suffers from dementia is worsening. Caregivers burden has psychological, physical and financial dimensions. The purpose of this research was to measure Health‐Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) of people with dementia and their caregivers and to investigate which parameters have an impact on caregivers burden (Zarit Burden Interview ‐ ZBI). Additionally we investigated existing differences between the estimation of health status by people with dementia, their caregivers for themselves and caregivers assessing their relatives’ condition, using the EQ‐5D‐5L questionnaire. The EQ VAS scale was used as a quantitative measure of health status of participants, both patients and caregivers. Method The research was conducted between December 2018 and January 2019 in the Athens Alzheimer Association Day Care Centers. The sample consisted of 200 people (100 people with dementia and their 100 caregivers). Demographic characteristics were recorded for all. People with dementia underwent neuropsychological assessment including MMSE, ACE‐R, GDS, EQ‐5D‐5L Result The majority of caregivers were women (70%), caring for their parents (50%) and spouses (42%). In our research 36% caregivers had moderate to severe burden (41,9 score’s ZBI). Through the EQ VAS, patients self‐assessed their health at an average of 72.9 points while caregivers rated health for their relatives at an average of 59.19 points. Conclusion Our findings suggest that caregivers health status correlates negatively to the amount of burden as expressed by ZBI scores. High ZBI scores rated by the caregivers also result in low HRQoL