Evaluation of Psychiatric Types of Morbidities among the Caregivers with Dementia

Open Access

Abstract

Background: Globally, an estimated 30 million people suffer from dementia, a number expected to quadruple every 20 years. Dementia patients often require high levels of care, predominantly provided by unpaid family caregivers. Without caregivers, patients face lower quality of life, earlier institutionalization, and increased societal and economic burden. Objective: To assess the evaluation and types of psychiatric morbidities among caregivers of patients with dementia. Methods & Materials: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted from July 2022 to June 2023 at the Psychiatry departments of National Institute of Neuro Sciences & Hospital (NINS) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) & Hospital, Dhaka. A total of 107 caregivers were recruited using purposive sampling. Data were collected via face-to-face interviews with a semi-structured questionnaire. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using DSM-5 criteria and confirmed clinically. Data were analyzed with SPSS v24 using descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests for associations. Results: Most caregivers were female (68.2%), aged 28–37 years (52.3%), with the majority being housewives (36.4%). Most had no prior experience in caregiving for patients with dementia (88.8%) and were not physically abused by the patient (86%). Overall, 75.7% of caregivers had psychiatric morbidity. The most common conditions were Major Depressive Disorder (54.3%), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (16%), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (9.9%), Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia (7.4%), and Panic Disorder without Agoraphobia (3.7%). Social Phobia, Somatoform Disorders, and Eating Disorders were less frequent. No significant association was found between socio-demographic characteristics and psychiatric morbidity. Conclusion: Caregivers of dementia patients experience a high prevalence of psychiatric morbidity, particularly depression and anxiety, highlighting the need for targeted mental health support and interventions.