BACKGROUND The present study aimed at investigating loneliness and burden experienced by family members caring for relatives diagnosed with Alzheimer disease. METHODS Participants were 40 caregivers of inpatients with Alzheimer disease. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate whether caregivers' loneliness (uni- and multidimensional) and burden are associated with and predicted by (1) specific caregiver characteristics and/or (2) patients' dementia severity and neuropsychiatric symptoms. RESULTS Loneliness was significantly correlated with caregivers' sex, age, and living circumstances, while burden was significantly correlated with caregivers' education solely. Regression analyses revealed that caregivers' sex and living circumstances contributed significantly to variance explanation of loneliness (but not burden), while the additional consideration of patient variables did not improve model fit. CONCLUSIONS Loneliness reported by caregivers of relatives diagnosed with dementia is significantly modulated by caregiver (but not patient) characteristics. Notably, both uni- and multidimensional loneliness scales seem to be sensitive diagnostic tools.

中文翻译：

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家庭照顾者对阿尔茨海默氏病患者的孤独感和负担。

背景技术本研究旨在调查照顾被诊断患有阿尔茨海默氏病的亲戚的家庭成员所经历的孤独感和负担。方法参加者为40名阿尔茨海默氏病住院患者。进行了相关性和多元回归分析，以调查看护者的孤独感（单向和多维）和负担是否与（1）具体看护者特征和/或（2）患者痴呆程度和神经精神症状相关并由其预测。结果孤独感与看护者的性别，年龄和生活状况显着相关，而负担与看护者的教育程度显着相关。回归分析显示护理人员 性别和生活环境对孤独的方差解释（但不是负担）做出了重要贡献，而对患者变量的额外考虑并没有改善模型拟合。结论照护者（但不是患者）的特征显着调节了被诊断为痴呆症的亲戚的照护者报告的孤独感。值得注意的是，一维和多维孤独量表似乎都是敏感的诊断工具。