The burden of informal caregivers in providing care to patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Introduction
The increase of average life expectancy, and thus the increase of the number of elderly people, is the source of various health problems associated with old age, which include dementia diseases. The most frequent type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Aim of the study
The assessment of the degree of the informal caregivers’ burden in providing care to patients with AD.

Material and methods
The study group comprised 100 persons providing informal care to persons with AD and 100 persons with diagnosed AD. The studies were conducted between December 2017 and September 2019 among caregivers and the people with AD under their care remaining in their residential environment and using day care centres in the Lesser Poland and the Silesia Province. Prior to that, consent was obtained from the Bioethics Committee in Bielsko-Biała (2017/11/16/1) and from medical facilities and day care centres.

Results and conclusions
A medium level of burden was demonstrated among all caregivers of patients with AD. Decreased functional capacity of the persons receiving care in the scope of the activities of daily living resulted in the increase of the burden in the domain of disappointment among the caregivers. The caregivers providing care to patients with AD, in cases where the persons receiving care used day care centres, experienced an increase of burden in the emotional involvement domain in the case of better functional capacity of the persons receiving care in the scope of activities of daily living (ADL).