Burden in Caregivers of Adults With Epilepsy at A Tertiary Hospital in North Western Nigeria.

Abstract

Epilepsy has a great impact on the lives of the patients and their caregivers. Caring for patients with 
epilepsy is challenging and associated with enormous burden. This cross-sectional study assessed the 
determinants of burden among 103 caregivers of persons with epilepsy attending Neurology clinic of 
Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) Zaria Nigeria. Ethical approval and 
informed consent were obtained from the Health Research Ethical Committee (HREC) of ABUTH 
and the participants respectively. Structured questionnaire, the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) and 
WHOQoL Bref instruments were interviewer administered to the caregivers and people with 
epilepsy (PWE) respectively. Data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 
version 21 and statistical significance was set at p value < 0.05. The mean and range ages of 
participants were 40.3 ±12.8 and 51 (18-67) years respectively. More than half were female 56 
(54.4%).The mean ZBI of caregivers and HRQoL of PWE were 45.0 ± 16.7 and 65.2 ± 16.4 
respectively. Median duration and caregiving hours daily were 7 days and 8 hours respectively. 
Majority of caregivers, 96(93.2%) were either their first degree relatives or spouses. These 
caregivers reported little or no burden in 3 (2.9%), mild to moderate burden in 47 (45.6%), moderate 
to severe burden in 38 (36.9%) and severe burden in 15 (14.6%). Caregivers with lower monthly 
income and those with informal employment had significantly higher mean ZBI of 47.95, p = 0.006 
and 49.87, p = 0.008 respectively. There was a significant negative correlation between burden of 
caregiving and health related quality of life (HRQoL) of persons with epilepsy (r = - 0.355, p = 
0.0001). Equally, HRQoL was found to be a independent determinant of caregiving burden (t= -
3.082, p = 0.003)
Conclusion: Majority of the caregivers were first degree relatives or spouses of the PWE, they had 
mild to moderate burden level and HRQoL of PWE was found to be an independent determinant of 
caregiving burden among them. Mitigating caregivers' burden will be essential in comprehensive 
epilepsy care