Factors associated with caregiving status and caregiver burden for patients with Alzheimer's disease in China

Abstract Background The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rapidly in China, which puts a great deal of pressure on the patient’s family and society. The way of patient care deserves social attention. This study focused on the caregiving status and the relationship between caregivers’ burden and patient factors based on the Chinese pension system. Methods This is a large-scale, multicenter cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the two types of caregiving (family care and nursing care), and the caregiver burden of patients with AD. A total of 1675 patients with a definite diagnosis of probable AD from 30 provincial, municipal, and autonomous regions of mainland China were enrolled from August 2019 to December 2019. Caregivers of AD patients completed the questionnaire under the guidance of trained investigators. The characteristics of patients and caregivers were summarized by descriptive statistics. Results Among the 1675 AD patients, 1522 (90.87%) patients adopted family care. There was a significant correlation between the housing condition, annual income, self-care ability, and the choice of caregiving (P < 0.05). According to the caregiver burden inventory score, 28.90% of the caregivers had a low burden, 57.01% had a medium burden and 14.09% had a heavy burden, concerning the patient's age, caring style, self-care ability, etc. The burden of the caregivers in the nursing facilities is relatively high than that of family care (P < 0.05). Conclusion Family care is the main way of care for AD patients in China. Caregiving status is affected by living place, patient income and severity of the disease. The burden of family caregivers of AD is generally high, especially patients with disabilities.