Impact of neuropsychiatric symptoms on caregiver burden in patients with Alzheimer's disease

Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) are very common amongst patients with Alzheimer's disease and contribute significantly to caregiver burden. Different NPS may contribute differently to caregiver burden. This has important implications for targeting treatment. Medline was searched using the keywords 'caregiver burden', 'BPSD', 'behavioral problems', 'Alzheimer's disease', 'dementia' and 'dementia of the Alzheimer type'. After an extensive search, 14 papers were identified. Caregiver burden and related quality-oflife measures were significantly associated with NPS in all studies. When compared with other factors, NPS had a stronger association than demographic and cognitive factors and a similar association with functional impairment. Psychotic symptoms were consistently associated with increased caregiver burden compared with other NPS. Pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions should focus on addressing the NPS that are most associated with increased caregiver burden.