Abstract
To investigate the influence of neuropsychiatric manifestations and functional performance on quality of life (QOL) of AD patients and their caregivers/family members. Methods: The QOL-AD scale, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Cornell and Beck Scales for Depression, Physical and Instrumental-Self Maintenance scales (AIDL and ADL) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) were applied to 60 patients with probable AD, mild (n=30) or moderate (n=30) dementia, according to NINCDS-ADRDA and DSM-III-R criteria, respectively, and to their caregivers/family members. The total scores on the three QOL-AD versions were correlated with the measures previously mentioned. Results: The QOL-AD patients' version displayed significant correlations with GDS (-0.76 p<0.01), Cornell (-0.53 p<0.01) and NPI (-0.46 p<0.05) in the mild dementia subgroup. The caregivers' version about patients' QOL correlated with GDS (-0.48 p<0.01), Cornell (-0.57 p<0.01), NPI (-0.46 p<0.01) and AIDL (-0.36 p<0.05), while the caregivers' version about their own QOL was significantly correlated with NPI (-0.43 p<0.01), AIDL (-0.35 p<0.05) and Beck Depression (-0.67 p<0.01). In the moderate dementia subgroup, significant correlations were observed with GDS (-0.45 p<0.05) and Cornell (-0.46 p<0.01). For the caregivers' version about patients' QOL, significant correlations emerged with Cornell (-0.68 p<0.01), NPI (-0.67 p<0.01), AIDL (-0.41 p<0.05), ADL (-0.49, p<0.01) and Beck Depression (-0.33 p<0.05). For the caregivers' version about their own QOL, significant correlations with Beck Depression (-0.54 p<0.01) and ADL (-0.38, p<0.05) were found. Conclusion: The symptoms presented in AD affected the QOL in patients and caregivers/family members in both mild and moderate dementia.
Key words:
quality of life; Alzheimer's disease; neuropsychiatric symptoms; functional performance; caregivers