Caregiver burden and its predictors in adult epilepsy patients

•About two-thirds of family caregivers (60.7 %) reported varying degrees of caregiver burden.•Caregiver burden was higher in female caregivers than in male caregivers.•ZBI score was significantly correlated with the patient's cognitive status and stigma level.•ZBI score was significantly correlated with the patient's anxiety, depression, and quality of life.•Caregiver burden was associated with sociodemographic and clinical variables of epilepsy patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate caregiver burden and factors associated with caregiver burden in caregivers of adults with epilepsy. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 107 patients with epilepsy and 107 their primary caregivers. Personal information form including sociodemographic data and Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory (ZBI), were used for caregivers, and patient information form, Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Epilepsy Quality of Life Scale (QoLIE-31) and Stigma Scale were used for patients. Caregiver burden was found to be related to gender (p = 0.047), marital status (p = 0.008), income (p = 0.003), education level (p = 0.05) age at onset of epilepsy (p = 0.025) and type of therapy (p = 0.005). The scale scores for cognitive functions (p