Assessing the health-related quality of life in informal caregivers of Alzheimer’s Disease: evidence from Malaysia

TL;DR

This study examines how caring for Alzheimer's patients affects caregivers' health and quality of life in Malaysia.

Contribution

The study provides new insights into HRQoL predictors for informal caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients in Malaysia.

Findings

Caregivers showed lower physical and mental health scores compared to the general Malaysian population.

Higher patient care demands and older caregiver age were linked to worse physical health outcomes.

Female caregivers had lower physical health scores, while caring for female patients improved mental health scores.

Abstract

There were limited local studies to examine the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in informal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in Malaysia. This study aimed to evaluate the HRQoL in informal caregivers of AD along with its predictors.

132 complete responses were obtained from informal caregivers of patients with AD recruited in 4 tertiary hospitals during outpatient visits. Their HRQoL was assessed with the 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Sociodemographic of both patients and caregivers were assessed as well as the time spent in informal care via a structured questionnaire. Summary scores of each SF-36 domains, Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) were compared with population norm in Malaysia. Forward stepwise multiple linear regression was conducted to identify significant factors influencing caregivers’ HRQoL.

With the mean PCS (51.19 ± 9.25) and MCS (44.17 ± 11.19), a declining trend was observed along with increasing disease severity in the study population. Besides the domain of physical functioning, a significant decline was detected in all remaining seven SF-36 domains compared to Malaysia general population. In multivariable models, demand in basic activity of daily living (BADL) (standardised β=-0.25, p = 0.002) and increasing caregivers’ age (standardised β=-0.30, p < 0.001) were negatively correlated with PCS. Female caregivers tend to attain lower PCS (standardised β=-0.19, p = 0.017). Nevertheless, providing care to female patients was related with higher MCS (standardised β = 0.23, p = 0.008). .

Informal caregivers of patients with AD demonstrated diminished overall well-being regardless of physical or mental aspects. These findings underscore the necessity for support programs that address physical care demands and provide psychosocial interventions, particularly for older and female caregivers.

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