Sección de Neurología, Hospital Universitario del Henares, Coslada, Madrid, España.
Neurologia. 2013 Mar;28(2):95-102. doi: 10.1016/j.nrl.2012.03.010. Epub 2012 Sep 15.
Informal caregivers provide care to dementia patients, and this service prolongs their stay at home.
To describe characteristics of dementia patients in the province of Alicante, as well as the profiles and roles of caregivers who assist them.
Multi-centre prospective study carried out in 4 neurology departments in Alicante (June 2009 to January 2010). Dementia patients' relatives/caregivers were included in sequential order. The following variables were analysed: a) Demographic information pertaining to the patient and caregivers (age, sex, marital and employment status, educational level, relationship to patient); b) patient's family unit; c) motivating factor for primary caregiver (PC); d) secondary caregiver (SC) roles; e) country of citizenship of formal caregiver (FC) and source of remuneration (private/public); f) caregivers' knowledge of dementia.
Most of our patients live at home (74.8%), and are female (69%) with Alzheimer's disease (78.4%) in a moderately severe stage (GDS level 4-5, 71.6%). PCs and SCs are mainly women (72.1% and 60.5% respectively), middle-aged and directly related to the patient (sons/daughters account for 64.3% of the PCs and 54.4% of the SCs); most are homemakers with a low educational level. Caregivers in the first category (PC) provide care due to moral obligation (75%), while those in the second (SC) involve patients in leisure or other stimulating activities (82.3%). Absent caregivers tend to be males (73.3%) residing long distances from the relative (52.4%). The FC tends to be female (91.7%), Spanish (81.8%) and privately remunerated.
Women dominate the network of caregivers for dementia patients, whether as principal caregivers, supporting caregivers or formal caregivers (in all cases, they have only limited training in dementia management). Males are largely absent. Better knowledge of the care structure supporting dementia patients may be helpful in the overall management of these patients.
非专业照料者为痴呆患者提供护理，这使他们能够延长在家中的居住时间。
描述阿利坎特省痴呆患者的特征，以及照顾他们的照料者的特征和角色。
多中心前瞻性研究，在阿利坎特的 4 个神经病学部门进行（2009 年 6 月至 2010 年 1 月）。按顺序纳入痴呆患者的亲属/照料者。分析以下变量：a）患者和照料者的人口统计学信息（年龄、性别、婚姻和就业状况、教育程度、与患者的关系）；b）患者的家庭单位；c）主要照料者（PC）的激励因素；d）次要照料者（SC）的角色；e）正式照料者（FC）的国籍和报酬来源（私人/公共）；f）照料者对痴呆症的了解。
我们的大多数患者（74.8%）在家中居住，女性（69%），患有阿尔茨海默病（78.4%），处于中度严重阶段（GDS 级别 4-5，71.6%）。PC 和 SC 主要是女性（分别为 72.1%和 60.5%），年龄在中年，与患者直接相关（儿子/女儿占 PC 的 64.3%，占 SC 的 54.4%）；大多数是家庭主妇，教育程度低。第一类（PC）的照料者因道德义务而提供护理（75%），而第二类（SC）的照料者则使患者参与休闲或其他刺激活动（82.3%）。缺席的照料者往往是男性（73.3%），与亲属的距离较远（52.4%）。FC 往往是女性（91.7%），西班牙人（81.8%），并获得私人报酬。
女性在痴呆患者的照料者网络中占主导地位，无论是主要照料者、支持照料者还是正式照料者（在所有情况下，他们对痴呆症管理的培训都很有限）。男性则大多缺席。更好地了解支持痴呆患者的护理结构可能有助于全面管理这些患者。
