Is caring for elderly relatives with depression as stressful as caring for those with dementia? A pilot study in Melbourne

The 30‐item General Health questionnaire (GHQ‐30) scores of the primary carers of 31 elderly patients with depression were compared with the GHQ‐30 scores of 30 primary carers of dementia sufferers. Carers of dementia sufferers who lived with their demented relative had GHQ‐30 scores almost four times higher than those carers who lived apart from a dementia sufferer. There was no difference in the GHQ‐30 scores of carers of depressed subjects living with or apart from their affected relative. Carers of demented patients tended on average to have higher GHQ‐30 scores than carers of depressed patients, but this difference was almost entirely accounted for by the fact that more carers of demented patients lived with their ill relatives. Patient and carer age and sex and severity of patients' depression were not related to the GHQ‐30 scores of their carers.