Burden and Depression in the Caregivers of Blind Patients in India

Purpose Several studies have examined the rates of depression in caregivers of patients with debilitating neurologic diseases. This study describes the degree of burden and the prevalence of depression among individuals caring for legally blind patients. To the best of our knowledge, no prior studies in the ophthalmic literature have reported this relationship. Design Clinic-based, cross-sectional study. Participants We included 522 individuals in Rampur, India, providing care to their close family relatives who were legally blind. Visual acuities varied from 20/200 in the best eye, to no light perception (NLP) in each eye. Methods Several surveys were completed by the caregivers of patients whose sole impairment was visual, allowing us to quantitatively and selectively assess burden and depression among caregivers of blind patients. Main Outcome Measures The Burden Index of Caregivers (BIC) was used to measure care burden and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale was applied to determine depression. Results Caregivers of patients with NLP experience higher burden than caregivers of patients with lesser degrees of blindness. Daily hours spent on close supervision and the intensity of care-giving were the definitive factors linked to high BIC scores ( P