Demented and chronic depressed patients attending a day hospital: stress experienced by carers.

OBJECTIVE

The main hypothesis was that carers of elderly patients attending a day hospital with chronic depression experience considerable stress. A subsidiary hypothesis was that this stress is equivalent to that experienced by carers of dementia patients attending the same day hospital.

DESIGN

All attenders of the day hospital with a diagnosis of depression or dementia coresident with their principal carers.

SETTING

An urban psychogeriatric day hospital in the UK.

PATIENTS: A consultant diagnosis of dementia or depression with a history of present illness in excess of 12 months in patients over 65. The total sample was 57, 32 dementia and 25 depression (19 major depressive episode).

MEASURES: Dementia patients: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clifton Assessment Schedule (CAPE). Depressed patients: MMSE, Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Carers: Semi-structured questionnaire, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30) and Relatives Stress Scale (RSS).

RESULTS

Dementia patients were older than depressed (75.66 vs 71.84). The two groups were of comparable severity. The dementia carers were significantly more stressed on the GHQ and RSS than depression carers but these carers also exceeded the threshold for psychiatric 'caseness'. Important negative views about life upset and carer burden were expressed by both groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The main hypothesis but not the subsidiary one is supported. More sophisticated study of the burden of caring for chronic depressive illness is required.