Table 1.

Characteristics and test scores by severity of caregiver burden in 92 patients with dementia attended at the neurology consultancy of three memory centers.

		Degree of severity
		Little or no burden (n=26) n (%)	Mild to moderate burden (n=23) n (%)	Moderate to severe burden (n=24) n (%)	Severe burden (n=19) n (%)
Age of patient, years§		75 (57-88)	76 (60-92)	76 (40-89)	73 (56-84)
Time since diagnosis, years§		1 (0-3)	2 (1-3)*	2 (1-3)*	2 (0-3)*
Dementia sub-type	Alzheimer’s dementiaz	18 (69.2%)	16 (69.6%)	21 (87.5%)	13 (68.4%)
	Vascular dementia	4 (15.4%)	4 (17.4%)	2 (8.3%)	3 (15.8%)
	Frontotemporal dementia	1 (3.9%)	1 (4.4%)	1 (4.2%)	3 (15.8%)
	Mixed dementia	3 (11.5%)	2 (8.7%)	0 (0.0%)	0 (0.0%)
Treatment, type	None	2 (7.7%)	4 (17.4%)	5 (20.8%)	3 (15.8%)
	Cholinesterase inhibitors	19 (73.1%)	8 (34.8%)	6 (25.0%)	6 (31.6%)
	Memantine	2 (7.7%)	4 (17.8%)	1 (4.8%)	2 (10.5%)
	Cholinesterase inhibitors plus memantine	3 (11.5%)	7 (30.4%)	12 (50.0%)	8 (42.1%)
Global Dementia Scale, points§		4 (3-6)	5 (3-5)*	5 (3-6)*	5 (3-6)*

^§Data are expressed as median (minimum and maximum values);

^*p-value for the comparison with the little or no burden group;

** p-value for the comparison with the mild to moderate burden group; *** p-value for the comparison with the moderate to severe burden group.