Subjective memory complaints in an elderly sample: a cross-sectional study

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaís Soares Cianciarullo Minett ◽  
Rosimeire Vieira Da Silva ◽  
Karin Zazo Ortiz ◽  
Paulo Henrique Ferreira Bertolucci
2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 1039-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oanh L. Meyer ◽  
Amanda Leggett ◽  
Siwei Liu ◽  
Ngoc H. Nguyen

ABSTRACTBackground:Low- and middle-income countries such as Vietnam are home to a majority of the world's population with dementia, yet little is known regarding how individuals in these countries perceive memory problems that might be indicative of cognitive impairment. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of subjective memory complaints (SMCs) in Vietnamese adults in Da Nang, Vietnam.Methods:A stratified sample of 600 adults (aged ≥ 55 years) living in Da Nang, Vietnam, and surrounding areas were recruited to participate in a cross-sectional study. Students and faculty from the National Technical Medical College Number 2 administered questionnaires in participants’ homes regarding socio-demographic characteristics, functional health, social support, cognitive and mental health, and SMCs. Descriptive and stepwise regression analyses examined the prevalence and correlates of SMCs.Results:Approximately 64% of the sample reported at least poor memory and 39% said that memory interfered with their daily life at least somewhat. Multivariate regression analyses (adjusted for all covariates) showed that depressive symptoms, cognitive impairment, self-rated health and pain, and material hardship were associated with SMCs.Conclusions:Prevalence of SMCs as well as depressive symptoms was high in this Vietnamese population. Although future research using more detailed measures of subjective memory and which include longitudinal data are required, the need for physicians to routinely assess Vietnamese patients for depression, SMCs, and cognitive impairment may be warranted.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 616-624 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Aarts ◽  
M. van den Akker ◽  
K. J. Hajema ◽  
A. M. van Ingen ◽  
J. F. M. Metsemakers ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackground: Multimorbidity has been suggested to be associated with a variety of negative health-related outcomes. The present study was designed to evaluate the association between multimorbidity and subjective memory complaints.Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on data obtained from a postal survey designed by the Public Health Service (Gemeentelijke Gezondheids Dienst, GGD) involving 15,188 persons aged 55 years and over living independently in Limburg, the Netherlands. Multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusted for potentially important covariates, were performed to evaluate the association between self-reported multimorbidity and three outcomes related to subjective memory complaints.Results: Multimorbidity was indeed related to subjective memory complaints. The association between multimorbidity and subjective memory complaints was positively influenced by age. Moreover, multimorbidity was related to the degree of worrying about memory complaints in people who perceived themselves as forgetful. Multimorbidity was also associated with reporting a larger increase in these subjective memory complaints during the past year. In this latter case, multimorbidity had more prognostic capability in men than in women. Psychological distress was related to all three subjective memory-related outcome measures.Conclusions: In our sample, which was representative of the Dutch population, multimorbidity was associated with subjective memory complaints. The relationship between multimorbidity and subjective memory complaints differed between men and women and between age groups.


2009 ◽  
Vol 24 (S1) ◽  
pp. 1-1 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Simoes ◽  
L.C. Castro ◽  
O. Ribeiro ◽  
T. Salgado ◽  
C. Paz

Background:Subjective Memory Complaints (SMC) are common in clinical practice. the clinical significance of these subjective complaints among older individuals is not well understood.Aim:To study and discuss the association between SMC and MCI, underlining the importance of an adequate clinical assessment of SMC in the elderly.Methods:Review of the literature.Results:There is no consistent definition of SMC in the literature. Some prospective studies showed an association with objective memory impairments, conceptualizing SMC as a Pre-Mild Cognitive Impairment. SMC are also currently considered to be a core feature of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies showed conflicting results concerning the association between SMC and MCI.Discussion:The understanding of the predictive value of SMC in cognitive decline is still poorly understood. It is important to define criteria aimed to increase specificity of memory complaints, allowing an earlier identification of populations with higher risk of MCI. Future research on this complex association is important to identify SMC individuals at increased risk of conversion to MCI and dementia.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 804-810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Chetouani ◽  
Mohammad B. Chawki ◽  
Gabriela Hossu ◽  
Anna Kearney-Schwartz ◽  
Florence Chauveau-Beuret ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (11) ◽  
pp. 1903-1916 ◽  
Author(s):  
Montejo C. Pedro ◽  
Montenegro-Peña Mercedes ◽  
López-Higes Ramón ◽  
Montejo R. Borja

ABSTRACTBackground:This study examines the associations between subjective memory complaints (SMC) and health variables: multimorbidity, presence of certain diseases, health perceived state, difficulties seeing and hearing, pain, and use of medications and health services. Furthermore, we aim to identify risk groups based on multimorbidity and calculate the effect size for each of these relationships.Methods:Cross-sectional epidemiological study using a face-to-face interview with a structured questionnaire. Sample size: 1,342 people aged 65 years and older taken from a random sample of the census tracts. SMC were studied using questions regarding memory complaints.Results:Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are associated with SMC, so are impaired vision and hearing. SMC are more frequently present in people who use health services more intensively and exhibit reduced functional activity as a result of diseases. With respect to specific diseases, only cerebrovascular accidents and chronic constipation were associated with SMC. In regression analysis, predictors of SMC were vision and hearing impairment, poor self-perceived health, pain, and general practitioner visits. However, the effect size of these factors is low. The variables that indicate risk groups are number of diseases, reduced functional activity, hearing impairment, and poor self-perceived health.Conclusions:Memory complaints are a heterogeneous phenomenon. Our results confirm that multimorbidity, polypharmacy, greater use of health services, pain, and poor self-perceived health are associated with SMC. We identified two risk groups with a high percentage of complaints and a healthy group with a low percentage. Detecting these factors and these risk and healthy groups is useful in achieving proper patients management.


2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (8) ◽  
pp. 1307-1315 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Buckley ◽  
M. M. Saling ◽  
D. Ames ◽  
C. C. Rowe ◽  
N. T. Lautenschlager ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackground:The prognostic value of subjective memory complaints (SMCs) in the diagnosis of dementia of the Alzheimer's type is unclear. While some studies have found an association between SMCs and cognitive decline, many have found a stronger association with depression, which raises questions about their diagnostic utility.Methods:We examined the cross-sectional association between SMC severity (as measured using the MAC-Q, a brief SMC questionnaire) and affect, memory, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers (β-amyloid deposition and the apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOEε4) allele) in healthy elderly controls (HC; M = 78.74 years, SD = 6.7) and individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; M = 72.74 years, SD = 8.8). We analyzed a subset of individuals drawn from the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Study of Aging.Results:SMCs were more severe in MCI patients than in HCs. SMC severity was related to affective variables and the interaction between age and group membership (HC/MCI). Within the HC group, SMC severity was related to affective variables only, while severity correlated only with age in the MCI group. SMCs were not related to cognitive variables or AD biomarkers.Conclusion:SMCs were related to solely by poorer mood (greater depressive and anxious symptomatology) in the cognitively healthy elderly however mean levels were subclinical. This finding argues for the assessment of affective symptomatology in conjunction with cognitive assessment in elderly memory complainers. Future AIBL research will focus on assessing other AD biomarkers, such as brain atrophy and Aβ plasma markers, in relation to complaint severity. Once our 36-month follow-up data are collected, we propose to assess whether SMCs can predict future cognitive decline.


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