Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with progressive neuropsychiatric symptoms. Patient care is often provided by informal caregivers similarly to various other chronic diseases. This targeted literature review assessed the difference in burden experienced by caregivers of people with AD in comparison to other chronic diseases.

Two separate search strings were developed to identify (i) caregiver burden in AD and (ii) caregiver burden in other chronic diseases using PubMed. Studies published in English (January 2012-October 2022) were included. Comparison of the caregiver burden was done using the weighted mean values (MV) of several questionnaires including the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI), a 22-item self-report questionnaire for caregivers ranging from 0 to 88 points. ZBI is stratified into four categories of caregiving burden: Little or no burden (0 to 21), mild to moderate burden (22 to 40), moderate to severe burden (41 to 60) and severe burden (61 to 88).

ZBI was the most frequently used questionnaire; 13 studies reported data on caregiver burden in AD and 39 studies reported data on 20 other chronic diseases. The caregiver burden ranged from 18 to 48 in AD, measured by ZBI. The MV of AD burden was 36 based on a total of 1,703 participants. The caregiver burden in other chronic diseases ranged from MV of 5 (chronic musculoskeletal pain) to 59 (bipolar disorder).

Measured by ZBI, AD burden on caregivers (MV: 36, range: 18-48) was greater than heart failure (MV: 27, range: 16-29) and type 2 diabetes (MV: 26, range: Not reported) but lesser than schizophrenia (MV: 56, range: 52-65) and bipolar disorder (MV: 59, range: Not reported).

AD has a significant burden on caregivers. When assessing the value of interventions targeting AD, the impact of AD on caregivers should be considered in addition to the impact of AD on patients. Further studies are required to assess the informal care burden in AD and other chronic diseases.