Caregiver burden in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neuro-degenerative disesase globally. 1 Prevalence of PD is 41 per every 100,000 persons worldwide, 1900 per 100, 000 in those aged above 80 years while in India the studies show large variation from 6–328 per 100,000 population. Men are more likely (1.5 times higher) to have PD than women. 2 , 3 Classical clinical features of PD are rigidity, imbalance, bradykinesia and resting tremor. Other non-motor symptoms, like sleep disorder, affective, cognitive, autonomic dysfunction and psychiatric disorders are also present in a good majority of PD patients. 1 PD patients require long-term support, particularly from their family members or caregivers (e.g., spouse, children, siblings and other family members or someone assisting them). 4 Chronic illnesses caregivers have a better outcome in terms of morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. However, with increasing duration of disease, disease progression and aging of PD patients can increase the work and stress levels of caregivers. 2 Caregiver burden is the adverse effect of the disease on the physical, mental socioeconomic wellbeing of the patient’s primary caretaker. Caregiver burden is an important predictor for recurrent hospitalization of patients. 4