Severity of Caregiver Stress in Relation to Severity of Disease in Persons with Parkinson's

Introduction Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder. It presents with motor symptoms and gradually progresses to cognitive impairment. It has debilitating impact not only on the psychological health of the patient but also of the caregivers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the stress level among caregivers of PD and assess its correlation with the disease factors including duration, severity, and presence of on-off phenomenon. Methods One hundred and fifty-six patients of Parkinson's disease and their caregivers were enrolled. Severity of Parkinson's disease was assessed using Hoehn and Yahr Scale. Caregiver stress was evaluated using Caregiver Burden Inventory. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Results There were 112 (71.8%) women and 44 (28.2%) men in the caregiver group. Their mean age was 47.75 +/- 11.98 years. There were 98 (62.8%) stressed caregivers and 58 (37.2%) non-stressed caregivers. In patients with stage 4 and 5 PD, 67-80% caregivers were stressed as compared to only 28% caregivers of stage 1 PD (p-value = 0.0008). Duration of Parkinson's disease more than 10 years and presence of on-off phenomenon was also significantly associated with higher stress in the caregivers (p-value < 0.00001; p-value = 0.002, respectively). Among the stressed caregivers, 85 (86.7%) were women and only 13 (13.3%) were men (p-value < 0.0001). Conclusion Psychological health of caregivers of persons with Parkinson's is bleak. As the disease progresses, they further succumb to debilitating stress and depression. Qualitative and quantitative studies must be conducted in Pakistan to understand the psychosocial status of Parkinson's disease caregivers and plan strategies to improve their quality of life.