Lactoferrin as a Novel Therapeutic Agent in Dermatology: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives.

Symptoms of dementia affect people in a way that diminishes their ability to function independently, therefore increasing their dependency, need for caregiving and support of daily living activities by people directly involved in provision of care i.e., caregivers (). This can create caregiver burden which is the strain that is experienced by the caregiver looking after the person who is either ill, disabled or elderly (, ). Whilst caregiver burden is often experienced by family members (often referred to as informal caregivers), it is also an issue for healthcare professionals and other carers (e.g., personal care assistants) as professional caregivers or formal caregivers (, ). The negative consequences of caregiver burden can impact both the person providing the care and the care recipient. These negative consequences include decreased provision of care, reduction in quality of life of both care recipient and caregiver, and deterioration of physical health of the caregivers leading to fatigue and chronic diseases, together with negatively impacting caregivers' psychological health resulting stress and anxiety (, –). It has been reported that when caregivers experience caregiver burden in the absence of adequate support or resources, the quality of care they provide is reduced (, ). This may arise because of a decreased ability of the caregiver to cope with the demands of delivering care or as a result of burnout where the caregiver can no longer provide emotional support for the person they care for (, ). In people living with dementia, caregiver burden is complex. In addition to delivery of care being time consuming, there is a substantial financial burden as well (, ). Caregiver burden is affected by a number of factors related to the caregiving process, the contextual factors as well as those related to the person living with dementia themselves, such as their socio-demographic features (, ). In addition to type of dementia and degree of impairment, clinical characteristics of people with dementia have also been reported as contributors to this burden. In this regard, presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia are important considerations (–) and have been linked to a higher burden of care regardless of the degree of cognitive decline or its etiology (). A relationship has been established between higher caregiver burden and neuropsychiatric symptoms, especially challenging behaviors (also referred to as responsive behaviors) in people living with dementia (, ). In the case of those caring for people with dementia, neuropsychiatric symptoms can be significant barriers to care provision and are often perceived as an inevitable consequence of disease progression, when in fact they may arise from treatable causes such as pain.