Sometimes, people recognize cognitive changes before they can be detected in clinical tests. In a new study, investigators confirmed that subjective reports of memory decline are linked to a diagnosis of dementia later in life.
The study included more than 4,000 people with an average age of 75. Participants did not have dementia or mild cognitive impairment. The study subjects reported some level of subjective cognitive decline at the start of the study.
Subjective cognitive decline was determined using a list of 10 items. These included problems remembering things just read or heard, finding one’s way around familiar streets and stopping in the middle of speaking to find the right word. At about five years, participants were given tests of their cognitive skills to see who had developed dementia.
People who reported more cognitive decline were more likely to develop dementia over the followup period. In fact, each point on the 10-point scale for subjective cognitive decline was linked to an 8.5% higher risk of developing dementia. That’s “roughly comparable to the effect of two years of aging,” said Silvia Chapman, PhD, of Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
Black, Latino and white race was factored into the results, which held across all groups.
“These results show that subjective cognitive decline may serve as an early marker of dementia and support the idea that subjective cognitive decline contributes information beyond standard memory testing,” Chapman said.
Clinicians should carefully evaluate any memory concerns for all of these groups, she said in a statement. The results “underscore the potential benefit of screening older adults for subjective cognitive decline,” she concluded.
The study was published in the online issue of Neurology.
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