Faculty Collaboration Database

Caregiver burden worsens in the second year after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2020 Sep;78:4-8

Date

07/14/2020

Pubmed ID

32659619

DOI

10.1016/j.parkreldis.2020.06.036

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85087735477 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   8 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Caregiver burden (CB) in Parkinson's disease (PD) does not improve in the short term after bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS), despite motor improvement. This may be due to increased caregiver demands after surgery or the possibility that DBS unresponsive non-motor factors, such as executive dysfunction, contribute to CB.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the trajectory of CB in year 2 following bilateral STN DBS surgery for PD, and to test whether post-operative CB changes correlate with changes in executive function in a subgroup with available neuropsychological testing.

METHODS: This retrospective analysis included 35 patients with PD whose caregivers completed the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) at baseline and between 9 and 24 months after bilateral STN DBS. 14 of these patients had neuropsychological testing both at baseline and within 6 months of their follow up CBI assessment.

RESULTS: CBI scores showed worsened CB from baseline to follow-up (16.4-21.5, p = 0.006). There was no correlation between change in executive function and change in CBI in the smaller subsample.

CONCLUSION: CB worsens in the 2 years after bilateral STN DBS despite improvement in motor symptoms and is not associated with change in executive dysfunction in the setting of advancing PD. These findings have implications on pre-operative counselling for patients and caregivers considering DBS for PD.

Author List

Jackowiak E, Maher AC, Persad C, Kotagal V, Wyant K, Heston A, Patil PG, Chou KL

Author

Eric Jackowiak MD Assistant Professor in the Neurology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Aged
Cognitive Dysfunction
Deep Brain Stimulation
Executive Function
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Parkinson Disease
Retrospective Studies
Subthalamic Nucleus