Memory complaints in young and elderly subjects

Abstract

Objective To compare the quantitative and qualitative aspects of memory complaints in cognitively normal subjects aged under and above 50 years. Setting A memory clinic located in a general hospital in a suburb of Paris offering direct access to subjects. Design Retrospective review of the files of consecutive patients who attended the clinic during one year. Participants Subjects were included if (a) they presented with memory complaints, (b) they had normal general cognitive functioning according to age and educational level, (c) they were devoid of present or past history of neurologic or psychiatric disorders. Methods Subjects rated the severity of memory complaints as major or minor and filled in a 8‐item questionnaire assessing various memory difficulties in everyday life. Relationship between severity of memory complaints and demographic data, memory performance and affective status was compared in 183 non‐depressed, non‐cognitively impaired healthy adults aged 50 years and over, and in 77 younger adults. Results Semiologic aspects and correlates of memory complaints were similar in younger and older adults. No close relationship was found between severity of memory complaints and memory performance. In both age groups, memory complaints were strongly related to affective status, mainly to the severity of anxious symptomatology. Memory complaints were related to gender in younger subjects, and to subjective assessment of well‐being in older. Conclusion Memory complaints of elderly do not appear basically different from memory complaints of younger subjects. They constitute a complex psychological symptom unlikely to be explained by a few variables and cannot be reduced to the subjective counterpart of memory performance decline associated with age. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Memory complaints and APOE-ε4 accelerate cognitive decline in cognitively normal elderly

“…1,2 However, many population-based studies have reported that subjective memory complaints may predict future dementia. [3][4][5][6] Memory complaints also predict faster cognitive decline in elderly persons with mild cognitive impairment 7 as well as in elderly persons with normal cognition.…”

Una disminución de las quejas de memoria se asocia con mejoría en el estado de ánimo: un estudio de seguimiento a los doce meses en pacientes deprimidos

“…Se ha documentado que las quejas de memoria están asociadas a cambios en la función cognoscitiva en algunos estudios ) y al estado de ánimo y a rasgos de personalidad en otros (Derouesne et al 1999). Estos hallazgos, de alguna forma contradictorios, fueron el punto de partida de nuestro estudio de seguimiento; nuestros resultados apoyan la última de las dos hipótesis.…”

“…McDonald, Cope y David (1993) encontraron que en aquéllos que acudían a medicina general, el deterioro cognoscitivo subjetivo estaba fuertemente relacionado con el trastorno psiquiátrico, especialmente con un estado de ánimo deprimido, pero no con la fatiga, ansiedad, o funcionamiento objetivo. En sujetos cognoscitivamente normales divididos en dos grupos de edad, por debajo y por encima de los 50 años, Derouesne et al (1999) no encontró relación próxima entre la gravedad de las quejas de memoria y el funcionamiento de la memoria. Las quejas de memoria en ambos grupos de edad estaban fuertemente relacionadas con el estado afectivo, principalmente con la gravedad de la ansiedad.…”

Correlação entre memória e volume de estruturas cerebrais em idosos deprimidos: um estudo de morfometria baseada no voxel

“…Entretanto, há outros estudos com idosos saudáveis em que não foi observada correlação entre queixas subjetivas e desempenho rebaixado (Bolla et al, 1991;Derouesné et al, 1999), e ainda outros que observaram atrofia do hipocampo associado a desempenho normal em testes de memória em idosos saudáveis (Ylikoski et al, 2000;Cohen et al, 2001; Rodrigue e Raz, 2004;).…”

“…Com relação às queixas dos pacientes com transtornos depressivos, era esperada alta porcentagem nesse grupo, já que há associação entre sintomas depressivos e queixas de memória (Mol et al, 2006). Dados da literatura também indicam não haver relação entre queixas e desempenho atual deficitário em testes de memória (Bolla et al, 1991;Derouesné et al, 1999), apesar de estudo realizado por Jorm et al (2001) ter observado resultado oposto.…”