Abstract： Objectives To compare the caregiver burden of Alzheimer's disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), and to explore the potential factors associated with caregiver burden. Methods The sample was derived from the baseline survey of China Pathway of Alzheimer's Disease (CPAD) study, a national multi-center observational registry study. Subjects were 628 caregivers (AD group:n=448;MCI group:n=148;SCI group:n=35) who completed the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI). Results There were significant differences in the total score and factor scores of CBI among the three groups, in the order of AD> MCI> SCI (P< 0.001). And in this order, total scores of these 3 groups were 25.43±18.41, 7.86±11.76, and 5.97±10.36, Time Dependence Burden scores were 9.40± 6.12, 2.94 ± 4.10, and 1.83 ± 2.90, Developmental Burden sores were 7.72 ± 6.01, 2.15 ± 4.11, 1.49 ± 2.90, Physical Burden scores were 3.90±4.16, 1.15±2.44, 0.97±1.90, Social Burden scores were 1.66±2.64, 0.60± 1.46, 0.89 ± 2.07, Emotional Burden scores were 2.76 ± 3.61, 1.03 ± 2.02, 0.80 ± 2.33. Caregiver burden was associated with the diagnostic staging, the perceived caring difficulty, and multi-morbidities with physical conditions (P<0.05). Conclusions Caregiver burden increases with the progression of cognitive impairment. The findings indicate that caregiver intervention and support should be provided as early as possible when early cognitive impairment is recognized.