Introduction:

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is the most common muscular dystrophy worldwide. It progresses slowly, depriving patients of their autonomy, which implies the need for a caregiver, who would often suffer from the disease as well. The overload or burnout syndrome, an English term very often found in medical bibliography, has been described for caregivers in recent years, and emotional wear is one of its features.

Objective:

Evaluate the autonomy to perform activities of daily living of patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1 with reference to the time of evolution of the disease, and determine the extent of wear in caregivers.

Methods:

A study of a clinical case series was conducted for two years at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery in Havana. Patients were evaluated with the Barthel autonomy scale and caregivers with the Maslach burnout syndrome inventory. Inclusion criteria admitted patients of both sexes clinically and neurophysiologically characterized for this diagnosis. It was also required to obtain the informed consent of patients and caregivers responding to the overload measuring tool. Exclusion criteria left out patients with a dystrophic condition other than Steinert type 1, inconclusive clinical and electromyographic evaluations, or not willing to participate in the study.

Results:

According to the depersonalization subscale in the Maslach tool (Mann-Whitney U p = 0.05), female caregivers are more often affected by the interaction with the person cared for.

Conclusions:

Results suggest that female caregivers are under a greater risk of overload syndrome.

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