Self‐Reported Memory Failures: Associations with Future Dementia in a Population‐Based Study with Long‐Term Follow‐Up

Abstract

Self-reported memory failure predicted future dementia or AD independent of objective memory performance. Subjective reports of complaints by family and friends appear to be an even more-important indicator of preclinical impairments, and physicians should not ignore them, even in the absence of objective memory deficits.

Self and Informant Memory Reports in FINGER: Associations with Two-Year Cognitive Change

“…The question of whether self or informant reports are more predictive of future cognitive decline is complex, and depends on the time of the assessment. In contrast to some previous studies suggesting informant reports to be more predictive [2,17,42] when assessing self and informant reports simultaneously, our study found self-reports to be more accurate in predicting future cognitive change. Our older sample was cognitively healthy but at risk, whereas most previous studies were based on memory-clinic patients or persons with MCI.…”

“…In clinical settings self-reports are often associated with actual cognitive test performance among healthy controls, but among patients with mild cognitive impairment informant reports are more often associated with cognition [15,16]. In a population-based study [2] both self-reported SMCs and informant reports predicted future dementia or AD, independent of objective memory performance across 10-12 years follow-up time. In a non-demented clinical sample, informant complaints improved accuracy of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) in predicting probable AD over 2 years but patient complaints did not [17].…”

“…Assessing subjective memory complaints (SMCs), everyday memory concerns expressed by people, is one approach in attempting to detect early signs of degenerative dementing processes and enable early diagnosis. SMCs have been related to the development of cognitive decline and dementia [2][3][4] and to underlying neurophysiological changes even among persons with normal cognitive function [5,6]. However, associations have not been found in all studies [2][3][4]7] and SMCs have also been suggested to have limited utility for the very early identification of AD [8,9].…”

White Matter Microstructural Damage as an Early Sign of Subjective Cognitive Decline

“…Given that elderly people with AD usually experience SCD prior to the onset of dementia, SCD has been regarded as the earliest stage in the continuous progression to AD (Reisberg et al, 2008;Hafkemeijer et al, 2013). Subjective decline in memory vs. in other cognitive domains could result in a higher risk of conversion to subsequent aMCI or AD (Rönnlund et al, 2015;Buckley et al, 2016). A recent review has shown that compared with age-matched controls, individuals with SCD suffered a 4.5-fold higher risk of progressing to subsequent MCI, and the risk of eventual progression to AD increased by 6.5-fold (Lin et al, 2019).…”

Subjective Memory Complaints in Portuguese Young Adults: Contributions from the Adaptation of the Prospective and Retrospective Memory Questionnaire

“…In the case of older people, subjective memory complaints have been particularly associated with the management of daily living activities and perceived quality of life, and they have been studied as possible indicators of cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and even dementia (e.g., Farias et al, 2009; Hong et al, 2014; Juncos-Rabadan et al, 2012; Maki et al, 2014; Montejo et al, 2012; Ogata et al, 2015; Rönnlund et al, 2015a; Rönnlund et al, 2015b; Waldorff et al, 2012). Despite the great importance of subjective memory complaints in elderly populations, the characterization of the same phenomenon in younger groups is also relevant to explore how memory changes are perceived across development, and how this self-report can be used in the evaluation of memory difficulties in specific age groups (Ginó et al, 2010; Pearman, 2009).…”