What about the Caregiver? A Journey into Parkinson’s Disease Following the Burden Tracks

OBJECTIVES:To investigate caregivers and patients characteristics related to different dimensions of burden in Parkinson's disease (PD).METHODS:55 pairs of PD patients and caregivers were recruited. The burden was evaluated with the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). Multivariate analysis was applied to evaluate the impact of caregivers' and patients' characteristics on the varying aspects of burden.RESULTS:ADL score was the dominant predictor for the total score and all dimensions of CBI, except for the social burden, which is strongly predicted by the motor severity of PD. As one can easily imagine, the Total CBI decreases as the ADL score increases.DISCUSSION:An increased appreciation for characteristics of caregiver burden is a fundamental aspect of the patient's global evaluation. Clinicians may need to directly probe for these factors in the caregiver as they may not be elicited routinely.