Providing care to people with dementia is a stressful experience and has been associated with high burden of care. Such issue has been under-researched in Arabic/Islamic parts of the world.

The aim of this study is to determine the degree of burden of care among caregivers of people with dementia attending the Old-Age clinic, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman.

Fifty patients with dementia and their primary care caregivers were included in the study. The diagnosis of dementia was based on DSM 5 criteria and the severity was rated according to the Global Deterioration Scale for Assessment of Primary Degenerative Dementia and Clinical Dementia Rating. Level of dependency was measured using the Katz Index of Independence in Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) Scale. For the caregivers, burden of care was determined by Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI).

The majority of caregivers were adult children (90%) who are supported by other relatives. Overall, 70% of caregivers demonstrated high degree of burden as quantified by ZBI. Factors such as patient's age, duration and severity of dementia, level of dependency and female gender of the caregiver were associated with higher burden.

Burden is common among dementia caregivers and several factors interplay to influence the perceived stress. As increased burden was evidenced to be associated with higher incidence of mental disorders, screening and early intervention will impact positively on the caregiver as well as the patient.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.