The total cost to the Nation for the care of AD patients is estimated at $90 billion, including medical and nursing home care, social services, lost productivity, and early death. The burden is not solely financial; caregivers and family members may suffer from isolation, depression, exhaustion, and increased health problems, as well as financial strain. In spite of the fact that dementia is a major growing health and social problem as well as a major emotional and financial burden on families, little information is available in the types and patterns of caregiving, types and patterns of health care services use, and the costs of care. In addition, the ability of elderly women and/or working daughters or sons to provide long term care, and the types of interventions and services that facilitate elderly women or working persons to care for a demented loved one have not been adequately identified. The purpose of this study is to describe predictors of caregiver burden and quality of life in elderly caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in the Honolulu Asian Aging Study of the Honolulu Heart Program. The caregivers are elderly spouses or siblings of Japanese American men between the ages of 70 and 90 who have been diagnosed with dementia. In a longitudinal study, 206 caregivers of persons with AD and 191 spouses of a control group are participating in both face to face and telephone interviews every three months for two years. Information collected about the caregiver includes demographic data, acculturation, perceived control, social networks, social support, health status, health service use, burden, coping strategies, depression, functional status, life satisfaction, and social well-being. Information collected about the demented person includes driving behaviors, self-care behaviors, health status, health service use, and progression of dementia behaviors. Data collection has been underway since March 31, 1991 and will continue until 1996 to complete the longitudinal component.
