de Vugt Marjolein E, Jolles Jelle, van Osch Liesbeth, Stevens Fred, Aalten Pauline, Lousberg Richel, Verhey Frans R J
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, University of Maastricht, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Age Ageing. 2006 Mar;35(2):160-6. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afj044.
Spousal caregivers are usually of the same age as the dementia patient and therefore at risk of age-related cognitive decline. Suboptimal cognitive functioning in caregivers may have profound implications.
Fifty-four spousal caregivers of dementia patients from the Memory Clinic of the Academic Hospital Maastricht and the Regional Institute for Community Mental Health Care in the Netherlands were compared with 108 non-caregiving controls. Data were collected on patient and caregiver characteristics and caregiver cognitive functioning. Repeated measures statistical analyses were carried out to investigate the relationship between caregiver cognitive functioning at baseline and patient behavioural problems and caregiver competence during 1 year of follow-up.
Caregivers performed significantly worse on several cognitive domains compared with control subjects. Low performance on a verbal memory task was related to a decrease in caregiver subjective competence and an increase in patient hyperactivity.
The results indicate that screening for cognitive impairment of spousal caregivers may be helpful, because suboptimal cognitive functioning may affect the ability to provide adequate care.
配偶照顾者通常与痴呆患者年龄相仿，因此有与年龄相关的认知能力下降的风险。照顾者认知功能欠佳可能会产生深远影响。
将来自荷兰马斯特里赫特学术医院记忆诊所和地区社区精神卫生保健研究所的54名痴呆患者的配偶照顾者与108名非照顾者对照进行比较。收集了患者和照顾者的特征以及照顾者认知功能的数据。进行重复测量统计分析，以研究基线时照顾者认知功能与患者行为问题以及随访1年期间照顾者能力之间的关系。
与对照受试者相比，照顾者在几个认知领域的表现明显更差。言语记忆任务表现不佳与照顾者主观能力下降以及患者多动增加有关。
结果表明，筛查配偶照顾者的认知障碍可能会有所帮助，因为认知功能欠佳可能会影响提供充分护理的能力。
