A cross-sectional investigation on dementia caregiver status in veterans community in Beijing

Objective To investigate the dementia caregivers' awareness of dementia diagnosis for patients aged≥80 years in veterans community in Beijing. Methods Patients aged 80 years and over who were diagnosed as dementia were selected from Dec. 2009 to Jul. 2011 in the veterans community in Beijing. A face-to-face interview and questionnaire survey were conducted in dementia caregivers individually, including basic social demographic data (gender, age, educational background), awareness rate of dementia, treatment and drug use situation and their attitude to dementia patients. Results A total of 118 caregivers were investigated individually. The caregivers in this study were mainly the spouse of the patients, and most of them were elderly people. 46.6% (55/118) of caregivers were the spouse of the patients, and 52.5% (62/118) of caregivers were 65 years old and over. The caregivers' awareness rate of dementia was 32.3% (38/118) when patients were diagnosed as dementia. There was no correlations of gender, age and educational background with the awareness rate of dementia diagnosis (all P>0.05). 50% of dementia patients received the dementia treatment, and only 17.8% (21/118)of patients got the first line drug treatment for dementia (acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and / or memantine). 98.3%(116/118) of caregivers agreed that the dementia patients should be treated kindly. Conclusions The dementia caregivers are mainly patients' spouse in veterans community and most of them are the elderly. The awareness rate of dementia diagnosis is low among the caregivers. Most patients do not take the formal treatment. The social support for the dementia caregivers should be strengthened. Key words: Dementia; Social support