Abstract

Behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) are responsible for the major stress in caregiver’s management of patients, their presence representing the main indicator for a subsequent hospitalisation of the patient itself. In our study we aim to investigate the component of the BPSD in relation to the burden of the caregiver, analysed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire which has been administered to 115 subjects (23 male, 88 female, 4 couple) involved in a caregiving activity of 58 male and 57 female with a diagnosis of dementia (MMSE = 21.62, DS 5.36). The symptomatology expressed in a Likert measure, has been correlated quantitatively with the caregiver’s stress, either as a single domain or as a cluster of symptoms. This second option seems to represent a better figure in detecting the main cause of burden among people involved in caregiving. The clusters which show a major impact are related to affective (anxiety, depression, euphoria) and psychotic (delusions and hallucinations) symptoms. In addition disruptive behaviors and apathy as single symptoms are associated with the highest burden of care in caregiver.