Home › Research › Treatments
Depressive symptom trajectories and associated risks among bereaved Alzheimer disease caregivers
Zhang B, Mitchell SL, Bambauer KZ, Jones R, Prigerson HG.. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2008-01-11
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
Objectives A recent study concluded that depressive symptoms among caregivers decline on average from before to after the Alzheimer disease (AD) patient's death. The present study sought to determine if subgroups of bereaved AD caregivers follow distinctive depressive symptom trajectories and the characteristics associated with membership in depressive symptom subgroups. Design Latent class mixture models sought to identify clusters of homogeneous participants in the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health study-a multisite, randomized caregiver intervention trial. Participants One hundred eighty-two community-based bereaved caregivers were included in the study. Measurements The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale assessed depressive symptoms among the AD caregivers at baseline and three follow-up visits. Results Three postloss depressive symptom trajectories emerged: persistently syndromal depression (N = 30, 16.5%); syndromal-becoming-threshold level depression (N = 62, 34.0%); and persistently absent depression (N = 90, 49.5%). Lower income, higher preloss depression levels, greater caregiver behavioral burden, less family support, and adverse health behaviors (e.g., smoking, skipped meals, and lack of exercise) after loss were risk factors for syndromal and syndromal-becoming-threshold level depression after loss. Conclusions Early intervention to reduce caregiving behavioral burden and enhance family support and promote healthier behaviors of bereaved AD caregivers may decrease the risk of syndromal or syndromal-becoming-threshold level depression after loss.
Key findings
- Objectives A recent study concluded that depressive symptoms among caregivers decline on average from before to after the Alzheimer disease (AD) patient's death.
- The present study sought to determine if subgroups of bereaved AD caregivers follow distinctive depressive symptom trajectories and the characteristics associated with membership in depressive symptom subgroups.
- Results Three postloss depressive symptom trajectories emerged: persistently syndromal depression (N = 30, 16.5%); syndromal-becoming-threshold level depression (N = 62, 34.0%); and persistently absent depression (N = 90, 49.5%).
Why it matters
This study described patterns of depressive symptoms among caregivers after the death of a person with Alzheimer's disease. It does not test any treatment for Alzheimer's disease itself.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Treatments →
Study details
- Participants30
- Effect size16.5%; 34.0%; 49.5%
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 65/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: journal h-index 178 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2008 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 30 participants |
| Effect reported | 2 / 3 | Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 68 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.4 citations a year over 20 year(s) since 2008 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 8.6× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 4 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Holly Gwen Prigerson: h-index 100 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 9 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 18192497) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 65 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
May need a subscription Unpaywall, Europe PMC and OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 10 Oct 2026), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Zhang, B., Mitchell, S. L., Bambauer, K. Z., Jones, R., & Prigerson, H. G. (2008). Depressive symptom trajectories and associated risks among bereaved Alzheimer disease caregivers. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1097/jgp.0b013e318157caec
Vancouver
Zhang B, Mitchell SL, Bambauer KZ, Jones R, Prigerson HG. Depressive symptom trajectories and associated risks among bereaved Alzheimer disease caregivers. The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. 2008. doi:10.1097/jgp.0b013e318157caec. PMID: 18192497.
BibTeX
@article{zhang2008-18192497,
author = {Zhang, B. and Mitchell, S. L. and Bambauer, K. Z. and Jones, R. and Prigerson, H. G.},
title = {{Depressive symptom trajectories and associated risks among bereaved Alzheimer disease caregivers}},
journal = {The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1097/jgp.0b013e318157caec},
pmid = {18192497},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1097/jgp.0b013e318157caec}
}
Studies this one cites
Referenced by this study and also in the alzhub library, so you can read them here.
Related studies in Treatments
Also in Treatments
166 studies in the library are filed under Treatments with no topic tag they share with another; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed tour of them. The Treatments hub.