Self-Reported Cognitive Decline on the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly Is Associated with Dementia, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living and Depression but Not Longitudinal Cognitive Change

Abstract

Background/Aim: A subjective history of cognitive decline is integral to dementia screening, yet there are few data on the accuracy of retrospective self-reports. We prospectively examined the longitudinal predictors of self-reported decline, including rate of cognitive change, clinical diagnosis, depressive symptoms and personality. Methods: We used a large (n = 2,551) community-dwelling sample of older adults (60–64 years at baseline) and tracked their cognitive functioning over 3 waves across a period of 8 years. Individual rates of change in multiple domains of cognition, incident dementia and mild cognitive disorders, apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 genotype, level of education, depressive symptoms and personality were examined as predictors of wave 3 retrospective self-reported decline as measured by the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly. Results: The rate of cognitive decline did not predict subjective decline. Significant predictors of self-reported decline included dementia diagnosis, problems with instrumental activities of daily living, depression and neuroticism at the time of self-report, as well as the presence of an APOE ε4 allele. Conclusions: In this relatively young cohort, retrospective self-report of cognitive decline does not reflect objective deterioration in cognition over the time period in question, but it may identify individuals in the initial stages of dementia and those with elevated psychological and genotypic risk factors for the development of dementia.

Prevalence and psychosocial correlates of subjectively perceived decline in five cognitive domains: Results from a population‐based cohort study in Germany

“…Previous studies investigating gender and subjective memory decline found only weak (both positive and negative) associations. 32,69,[74][75][76] The results of the present study point in the same direction: the odds ratios between domain-specific SCD and gender were close to one, with their 95% confidence intervals including one.…”

Cortical phase changes measured using 7‐T MRI in subjects with subjective cognitive impairment, and their association with cognitive function

“…If SCI is indeed an early AD stage, in which AD pathology is present without the presence of cognitive symptoms, as suggested by several studies, our data indicate that phase changes would only appear at a later stage of the disease when AD pathology is more severe and starts to have an effect on brain function. Another explanation for our results might be that SCI is not strongly associated with AD, as it is related to many factors other than AD, and only a small subset of the subjects with SCI develop AD . Alternatively, because phase changes are measured at a group level, it might be that, as most subjects with SCI do not develop AD, the differences between controls and subjects with SCI are too small to be significant.…”

“…This suggests that the elderly with SCI may be at risk for the development of AD. Alternatively, cognitive complaints may be caused by other factors, such as depression, anxiety and quality of life .…”

Alzheimer’s disease risk factors as mediators of subjective memory impairment and objective memory decline: protocol for a construct-level replication analysis

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