Neuroscience Department, Discipline of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 020021 Bucharest, Romania.
Department of Psychiatry, 'Prof. Dr. Alexandru Obregia' Clinical Hospital of Psychiatry, 041914 Bucharest, Romania.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2023 Aug 18;59(8):1486. doi: 10.3390/medicina59081486.
: The informal caregiver's contribution to the wellbeing of dementia patients is critical since these individuals become dependent on others for all daily activities. Our goal was to investigate the dynamics of anxiety, depression, burnout, sleep, and their influence on quality of life over a 6-month period in the context of pandemic distress in a sample of informal caregivers of Alzheimer's patients. : For this prospective, longitudinal study, we conducted a 6-month telephonic survey between 2021 and 2022, administering a series of questionnaires at three timepoints (baseline, 3 months and 6 months) to a group of informal caregivers of patients suffering from dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. : A total of 110 caregivers were included at baseline, out of which 96 continued to the second stage and 78 followed through to the last stage. The majority of the participants were female (most likely the patients' daughters), around 55 years old, living in urban areas, married, with children, having a high school degree or a higher education degree, and working in jobs that required physical presence; in the best-case scenario, they were sharing their responsibilities with another two-three caregivers. More than half of the 110 participants (50.9%) reported mild to moderate anxiety at baseline, and 27.3% reported significant anxiety, with no changes between the three timepoints, F(2, 154) = 0.551, = 0.57; 25% reported moderate-severe depression at the start, with no changes between the three timepoints, F(2, 154) = 2.738, = 0.068; and many reported a decrease in quality of life, poor quality of sleep, and decreased fear of COVID infection. Cynicism, professional effectiveness, anxiety, depression, and sleep quality explained up to 87.8% of the variance in quality of life. : Caregivers' decreased quality of life during the pandemic was explained by their levels of burnout, anxiety, and depression throughout the 6-month period.
: 非专业照护者对痴呆症患者的幸福感的贡献至关重要，因为这些患者在日常生活的所有活动中都依赖他人。我们的目标是在大流行困扰的背景下，研究焦虑、抑郁、倦怠、睡眠及其对生活质量的影响在 6 个月内的动态变化，这是阿尔茨海默病患者的非专业照护者的样本。 : 这项前瞻性纵向研究在 2021 年至 2022 年期间进行了为期 6 个月的电话调查，在三个时间点（基线、3 个月和 6 个月）向一组患有痴呆症（由于阿尔茨海默病）的患者的非专业照护者发放了一系列问卷。 : 共有 110 名照护者在基线时入组，其中 96 名继续进入第二阶段，78 名继续进入最后阶段。大多数参与者是女性（很可能是患者的女儿），年龄在 55 岁左右，居住在城市地区，已婚，有子女，具有高中学历或更高学历，从事需要在场的工作；在最佳情况下，他们与另外两到三名照护者分担责任。在基线时，超过一半的 110 名参与者（50.9%）报告有轻度至中度焦虑，27.3%报告有明显焦虑，但三个时间点之间没有变化，F(2, 154) = 0.551, = 0.57；25%在开始时报告中度至重度抑郁，三个时间点之间没有变化，F(2, 154) = 2.738, = 0.068；许多人报告生活质量下降、睡眠质量差、对 COVID 感染的恐惧减少。愤世嫉俗、专业效能、焦虑、抑郁和睡眠质量解释了生活质量变化的 87.8%。 : 在大流行期间，照护者生活质量下降的原因是他们在整个 6 个月期间的倦怠、焦虑和抑郁水平。
