OBJECTIVE The behavioral and psychological symptoms associated with dementia (BPSD) are highly burdensome to caregivers. While BPSD consist of a wide variety of patient behaviors including depression, physical aggression, and paranoid delusions, it remains unclear whether specific symptoms have a differential impact on caregivers. The aims of this study were 1) to assess how individual BPSD, ca...

To the Editor: I am not a medical researcher, nor am I a medical doctor. I am, however, a spouse caregiver for my wife, who is now in moderate stages of Alzheimer disease (AD). My reading of the AD literature, my listening to other spouse caregivers, and my research on the effectiveness of current AD medications all tell me that doctors too often recommend that patients with AD continue taking ...

background: caring for a patient with heart failure can be a challenging and stressful situation. however, researchers have paid less attention to caregiving outcomes in heart failure caregivers. this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perceived life changes and mental health of family caregivers of heart failure patients. methods: through a correlational design, a conv...

BACKGROUND Perturbed sleep might contribute to cardiovascular disease by accelerating atherosclerosis. Sleep is poor in Alzheimer caregivers who are also a group at increased cardiovascular risk. OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that impaired sleep relates to elevated levels of biomarkers of atherosclerosis in community-dwelling elderly and that this association would possibly be stronger in ...

BACKGROUND Alzheimer disease is an increasingly common condition in older people. Knowledge of life expectancy after the diagnosis of Alzheimer disease and of associations of patient characteristics with survival may help planning for future care. OBJECTIVE To investigate the course of Alzheimer disease after initial diagnosis and examine associations hypothesized to correlate with survival a...