Epidemiological survey of mental symptoms in elderly patients and their family carers in Minhang District

Objective To investigate the behavioral and psychiatric symptoms of the elderly in Shanghai community and the mental health status of their main family caregivers.

MethodsIn this study, the elderly and their main family caregivers who were ≥65 years old and willing to participate in the survey were included by multistage random cluster sampling.Surveys were conducted on the status of NPI and ADL for older persons and on the status of PQSI, PHQ-9, GAD-7, and SF-36 for the main family caregivers of the elderly.

Results The main caregivers for the elderly in the community were mainly their spouses or their children.There were 831 elderly people with NPI abnormalities in questionnaire, the positive rate being 38.26%.There were 226 elderly people with abnormal ADL, the positive rate being 10.41%.There were 115 elderly people with abnormal NPI and abnormal ADL, the positive rate being 5.29%.Under the four conditions of "overall", "NPI abnormality", "ADL abnormality" and "NPI abnormality and ADL abnormality", the proportion of caregiver PHQ-9 with depressive symptoms was 1.79%, 2.25%, and 4.35%, and 5.66%, respectively.The anxiety symptoms were the highest in the "ADL abnormalities" of the care recipients, which was 2.90%;The second was "NPI anomaly and ADL anomaly", accounting for 2.83%;"NPI anomaly" accounted for 1.72%.The main family caregivers had poor sleep and sleep was still relatively high in "ADL abnormalities"; when sleep was generally high, "NPI and ADL abnormalities" accounted for 24.53%.The caregiver SF-36′s RE, SF, MH, GH, and total score >60 scored the highest in "NPI abnormalities and ADL abnormalities"; RF, RP, and VT were highest in "NPI abnormalities"; and BP was the highest in "overall".

Conclusion The main family caregivers have the highest proportion of anxiety symptoms in the elderly with "ADL abnormalities"; "NPI abnormalities and abnormal ADL", the caregivers have the highest proportion of depressive symptoms; "ADL abnormalities", "NPI abnormalities and ADL abnormalities", and the caregiver′s sleep problems are the most serious.