Biopsychosocial factors influencing primary caregivers of patients diagnosed with dementia syndrome

Introduction: in the present century, dementia is one of the most disabling syndromes affecting the elderly population, which increases its frequency at an accelerated rate and has a high individual and social impact. Objective: to identify biopsychosocial factors that influence primary caregivers of patients diagnosed with dementia syndrome. Methods: descriptive longitudinal study in the Central Area of the municipality and province of Guantánamo, during the period from December 2019 to May 2022. The universe was constituted by the main caregivers of 43 elderly, the following variables were used: age, sex, schooling, marital status, occupation, personal pathological history before being a caregiver, personal pathological history after being a caregiver, type of caregiver, cognitive deterioration of the patient, time employed by the caregiver, level of overload, burn out syndrome - burned caregiver. Descriptive indicators were obtained through the SPSS 23.0 statistical package, as well as totals and percentages. Results: the factors most associated with the overload of the main caregiver of patients with dementia syndrome were female sex (OR=63; CI95%: 10,3-86,7; p=0,000), the affective ties of spouse/child (OR=61,8; IC95%: 7,0-67,1; p=0,001) and the degree of cognitive impairment (OR=45,0; IC95 % 4,8-93,6; p=0,001). Conclusions: female sex, spousal bonding and degree of cognitive impairment were identified as factors influencing the overload of primary caregivers of patients with dementia syndrome.