Longitudinal Impacts of Caregiver Distress on Cognitive and Neuroanatomical Indicators of Alzheimer's Disease Severity

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes cognitive impairment, reduced functional status, and behavioral disturbances. As patients become increasingly impaired across these domains of functioning, they require greater assistance completing basic and instrumental activities of daily life. This assistance is overwhelmingly provided by informal caregivers. The adverse effects of increased AD severity on caregiver distress levels have been well documented in the literature. However, the reverse effects of baseline caregiver distress on future AD severity remain unknown. The present study used hierarchical linear regression to explore longitudinal downstream effects of baseline caregiver distress on cognitive and neuroanatomical indicators of AD severity. Analyses were completed using data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (N = 184). Results indicated that baseline caregiver distress predicted cognitive status at both 12 and 24 months follow-up. Future research is needed to corroborate this finding, which may have significant clinical implications in regards to improving patient outcomes by alleviating caregiver distress.