One in three family members of an Alzheimer's patient experience persistent symptoms of depression. This conclusion was made by scientists from the University of Eastern Finland.
Senile dementia is a serious and incurable disease, and awareness of this disease in oneself can plunge a person into depression for a very long time. But more than 60% of family members caring for people with Alzheimer's also experience this mental disorder. All of them experienced at least mild symptoms of depression when their relative was first diagnosed. And one in three observed worsening of depressive symptoms in the next 5 years.
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The study by Finnish scientists involved 226 family members caring for people with Alzheimer's disease. Their depressive symptoms were followed up for 5 years from the time of diagnosis. 61.5% of caregivers experienced depressive symptoms already at the time of diagnosis, in more than half they remained mild during follow-up and even improved in some cases.
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But one-third recorded a persistent worsening of depressive symptoms. They also increased during follow-up in the third and fifth years after diagnosis. Most often, women who cared for their spouses faced depression. In the control group, relatives of patients with atopic dermatitis were observed. In this case, no increased risk of the spread of depression was observed in them. (READ MORE) 
University of Eastern Finland
Medicine
was formed as a result of the merger of two previously independent universities, the University of Joensuu and the University of Kuopio