SUMMARYThe Cognitive Difficulties Scale (CDS, McNair and Kahn, 1984) was used to assess memory complaints in 1648 subjects devoid of severe medical or psychiatric disorder. The subjects, aged 4S75 years, were recruited when visiting their general practitioner. The CDS was well accepted and showed a good and stable factorial structure. A weak correlation was found between CDS score and the results of a short neuropsychological battery. A high CDS score was associated with advancing age, low educational level, and psychological motives for visiting. A reduced 26-item version is proposed to shorten the time required to fill in the scale.KEY worn-Memory complaints, memory assessment, Cognitive Difficuities Scale, Age-associated memory impairment.Many people over 50 years of age complain of decreased performance in everyday memory (Kral, 1958). The actual frequency of Such complaints, however, has rarely been evaluated in large-scale Address for correspondence: Professor C. DerouesnC, Department of Neurology n"3, HBpital de la Salgtritre, 47 Boulevard studies (Cutler and Grams, 1989) and its determination is highly dependent on the method of assessment (Cavanaugh, 198687). The assessment of memory complaints is crucial for including people in the recently described age-associated memory impairment construct (Crook a'a, 1986) and to assess the efficacy of drugs for Age-associated de YHBpital,

This study suggested that anxiety but not depression was independently associated with an increased risk for high blood pressure.

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These results are consistent with the maternal vitamin D insufficiency hypothesis. Neurobiological studies are warranted to document the effect of maternal vitamin D insufficiency during pregnancy on the foetal brain and the window of vulnerability. This review stresses the importance of monitoring vitamin D levels in pregnant women, especially those who are immigrant, dark-skinned or veiled, and the urgency of randomized controlled trials.