Caregivers’ Burden on Patients with Dementia Having Multiple Chronic Diseases

Figures & data

Table 1 Variables from Patients with Dementia

Variables		Frequency	Percentage	Data Type
Age	< 65 years old	10	3.5	1
	65–74 years old	54	19.0	2
	75–84 years old	127	44.7	3
	≥ 85 years old	93	32.7	4
Gender	Female	176	62.0	0
	Male	108	38.0	1
Marital status	Married	172	60.6	1
	Divorce	3	1.0	2
	Widow/Widower	105	37.0	3
	Separate	3	1.0	4
	Single	1	0.4	5
Type of dementia	Alzheimer’s disease	158	55.6	1
	Vascular dementia	55	19.4	2
	Mixed dementia	7	2.5	3
	Dementia with Lewy bodies	8	2.8	4
	Parkinson’s disease	14	4.9	5
	Frontotemporal degeneration	6	2.1	6
	Others	36	12.7	7
Chronic disease (multiple choice)	Cardiovascular disease	27	9.5	1: with the disease; and 0: without the disease
	Cerebrovascular disease	43	16.2
	Hypertension	222	78.2
	Diabetes	193	68.0
	Hyperlipidemia	186	65.5
	Chronic kidney disease	47	16.5
	Anemia	102	35.9
	Hearing impairment	81	28.5
Clinical dementia rating	Very mild dementia	164	57.7	0
	Mild dementia	92	32.4	1
	Moderate dementia	23	8.1	2
	Severe dementia	5	1.8	3

Table 2 Follow-Up Variables of Patients with Dementia Who Had Multiple Chronic Diseases

Variables		Frequency	Percentage	Data Type
Feeding	Independent	269	94.7	0
	Feed by others	12	4.2	1
	On nasogastric tube	3	1.1	2
Hypnotics	No use	213	75.0	0
	Fair response	45	15.8	1
	Poor response	26	9.2	2
Mood symptoms (multiple choice)	Pathological crying or laughing	4	1.4	1: with the symptom; and 0: without the symptom
	Phobia	1	0.4
	Dysthymia	57	20.1
	Depression	40	14.1
	Anxiety	30	10.6
	Worry	18	6.3
	Anger	45	15.8
	Irritability	33	11.6
	Emotional liability	41	14.4
	Apathy	10	3.5
Behavioral and psychological symptoms (multiple choice)	Agitation	12	4.2	1: with the symptom; and 0: without the symptom
	Akathisia	6	2.1
	Wandering	2	0.7
	Screaming	0	0
	Curse	8	2.8
	Pacing	0	0
	Shadowing	0	0
	Aggression (verbal/body)	8	2.8
	Disinhibition	1	0.4
	Akinesia	4	1.4
	Nighttime behavior	19	6.7
	Aberrant motor behavior (stereotype)	5	1.8
	Delusion	46	16.2
	Hallucination	24	8.5
	Misidentification	7	2.5

Table 3 Variables from Caregivers

Variables		Frequency	Percentage	Data Type
Age	< 50 years old	70	24.6	1
	50–59 years old	106	37.3	2
	60–69 years old	54	19.0	3
	≥ 70 years old	54	19.0	4
Relation to the patient	Spouse	69	24.3	1
	Child	181	63.7	2
	Other relatives	34	12.0	3
Marital status	Married Divorce	233 2	82.0 0.7	1 2
	Widow/widower	6	2.1	3
	Separate	1	0.4	4
	Single	42	14.8	5
Education	Illiterate	5	1.8	1
	Elementary school	33	11.6	2
	Junior high school	22	7.7	3
	Senior high school	96	33.8	4
	College and above	128	45.1	5
Employment	Unemployed or retired	110	38.7	0
	Employed	174	61.3	1
Type of primary care	Sole caregiver	80	28.2	1
	Shared caregiving by a caregiver and a foreign worker/household	118	41.5	2
	Shared caregiving by different relatives	4	1.4	3
	Caregiving by a foreign worker	26	9.2	4
	Others	56	19.7	5
Frequency of care	1–2 days per week	28	9.9	1
	3–5 days per week	27	9.5	2
	≥ 6 days per week	229	80.6	3
Caregiver’s mood (multiple choice)	Helplessness	40	14.1	1: with the mood; and 0: without the mood
	Loneliness	11	3.9
	Anxiety	29	10.2
	Frustration	46	16.2
	Nervousness	87	30.6
	Anger	56	19.7
	Sadness	10	3.5
	Emotional liability	16	5.6
	Troublesome	94	33.1
	Hopelessness	30	10.6
Caregiving burden	Little or no burden	96	33.8	1: applied to a particular burden; and 0: otherwise
	Mild-to-moderate burden	143	50.4
	Moderate-to-severe burden	39	13.7
	Severe burden	6	2.1

Table 4 Four General Rules for Caregivers with a Severe Burden

Rule no.	Antecedent	Support (%)	Confidence (%)	Lift
1	Age of the patient: 75–84 Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Employment: Employed Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Hypnotics: No use Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Chronic disease: Hypertension Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Caregivers’ marital status: Married Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Feeding: Independent Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
2	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Frustration	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Employment: Employed Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Frustration	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Hypnotics: No use Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Frustration	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Chronic disease: Hypertension Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Frustration	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Caregivers’ marital status: Married Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Frustration	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Feeding: Independent Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Frustration	1.05	100	47.33
3	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Employment: Employed Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Hypnotics: No use Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Chronic disease: Hypertension Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Caregivers’ marital status: Married Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Feeding: Independent Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness, Frustration, and Anger	1.05	100	47.33
4	Age of the patient: 75–84 Clinical dementia rating: Mild dementia Hypnotics: No use Caregiver’s mood: Frustration and Anger	1.05	100	47.33

Table 5 Five General Rules Consisting of Patients with Three Chronic Diseases for Caregivers with a Moderate-to-Severe Burden

Rule no.	Antecedent	Support (%)	Confidence (%)	Lift
1	Chronic disease: Hypertension, Anemia, and Hearing impairment Caregiver’s education: College and above Caregiver’s mood: Hopelessness	1.05	100	7.28
	Age of the patient: ≥ 85 Chronic disease: Hypertension, Anemia, and Hearing impairment Caregiver’s mood: Frustration	1.05	100	7.28
	Chronic disease: Hypertension, Anemia, and Hearing impairment Caregiver’s education: College and above Caregiver’s mood: Frustration	1.05	100	7.28
2	Chronic disease: Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, and Anemia Caregiver’s education: College and above Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness	1.05	100	7.28
	Chronic disease: Diabetes, Hyperlipidemia, and Anemia Age of the caregiver: < 50 Caregiver’s mood: Troublesome	1.05	100	7.28
3	Chronic disease: Hypertension, Diabetes, and Anemia Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness and Sadness	1.05	100	7.28
4	Chronic disease: Hypertension, Hyperlipidemia, and Anemia Caregiver’s education: College and above Caregiver’s mood: Helplessness	1.05	100	7.28
5	Chronic disease: Hypertension, Diabetes, and Hyperlipidemia Caregivers’ marital status: Single Caregiver’s mood: Anger	1.05	100	7.28