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Depressive symptoms of informal caregivers are associated with those of community-dwelling dependent care recipients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2010

Sachiko Izawa ,
Jun Hasegawa ,
Hiromi Enoki ,
Akihisa Iguch  and
Masafumi Kuzuya
Sachiko Izawa
Affiliation:
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
Jun Hasegawa
Affiliation:
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
Hiromi Enoki
Affiliation:
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
Akihisa Iguch
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medical Welfare Department of Community Care Philanthropy, Aichi Shukutoku University, Japan
Masafumi Kuzuya*
Affiliation:
Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M. Kuzuya, Department of Geriatrics, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsuruma-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. Phone: +81-52-744-2364; Fax: +81-52-744-2371. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Background: The relationship between care recipients’ depressive symptoms and those of caregivers remains unknown. We evaluated the association between the depressive status of caregivers and that of community-dwelling disabled care recipients.

Methods: A prospective cohort study of 893 care recipients and paired caregivers was conducted. The care recipients were all eligible for a universal-coverage long-term care insurance program and their ages ranged from 65 to 104 years. They and their paired caregivers (age range 31–90 years) completed the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15, score range: 0–15) assessment at baseline. The GDS-15 was used to measure the depression of caregivers and recipients with a threshold of <6/6+. The data included each care recipient's demographic characteristics, overall health status, basic activities of daily living, and comorbidities. The data also included the caregiver's demographic characteristics, including the caregiver's relationship to the recipient, and the caregiver's subjective burden as assessed by the Japanese version of the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI).

Results: The mean GDS-15 scores of care recipients and caregivers were 6.7 points and 5.6 points, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the GDS-15 scores of caregivers and care recipients (r = 0.307, p<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusting for potential confounders including ZBI score indicated that the depressive symptoms of caregivers were associated with those whose care recipients were in the groups with moderate and high GDS-15 scores (OR: 1.97, 95% CI: 1.39–2.81, OR: 3.13, 95% CI: 1.87–5.24, respectively).

Conclusion: Caregivers’ depressive symptoms are associated with the depressive mood of the care recipients even after adjusting for confounders including caregiver burden.

Keywords

depressive moodcaregiver burdendependent frail older people
Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 22 , Special Issue 8: Focus on prevention in psychogeriatrics , December 2010 , pp. 1310 - 1317
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2010

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