Prevalence and Correlates of Cognitive Impairment in Adults with Subjective Memory Complaints in Primary Care Centres

Abstract

Aims: To examine the prevalence and correlates of cognitive impairment (CI) in adults over 50 years old attending primary care centres with complaints of memory failure. Methods: A sample of 580 individuals aged 50+ years with no previous diagnosis of dementia was assessed by use of the Mini Mental State Examination, the Cambridge Cognitive Assessment-Revised and the California Verbal Learning Test – to evaluate CI-dependent variables – and administration of a questionnaire on memory complaints and other instruments – to measure correlates. Results: The prevalence of CI was 46.20% and positive associations were found for age, gender, level of education, subjective memory complaints, instrumental activities of daily living, reading habits and frequency of leisure activities. In the logistic regression, modelled CI was associated with older age, gender (49.12% women, 39.66% men), instrumental activities of daily living, and reading habits. Conclusion: Almost half of the adults aged 50+ years attending primary care centres with subjective memory complaints were affected by CI. Early evaluation of cognitive functioning is essential to establish adequate preventive and intervention strategies.

High Prevalence of Stress and Low Prevalence of Alzheimer Disease CSF Biomarkers in a Clinical Sample with Subjective Cognitive Impairment

“…In the current study, SCI patients were younger and had more years of education than patients with MCI, supporting findings from previous clinically based studies [46,48]. In population-based studies, higher age and lower education have been associated with SCI [49].…”

Control of diabetes and fibrinogen levels as well as improvement in health care might delay low cognitive performance in societies aging progressively

“…Schooling has consistently been described in the literature as strongly associated with cognitive performance 3,4,5,20 , and these findings were confirmed in the present study. The inverse relationship between educational level and cognitive performance may have resulted from the greater exposure among individuals of lower educational level to environmental factors with adverse effects on the central nervous system, such as poor nutrition, low neuropsychomotor stimulation, and greater exposure to precarious living conditions, particularly during the early years of life, reflected in adulthood as LCP 21 .…”

“…On the other hand, widowhood and solitude, more frequent among women, may lead to depressive conditions that, in themselves, may have a negative influence on cognitive performance. Higher prevalence of LCP among women was also found by Juncos-Rabadan et al 20 , in a cross-sectional study carried out in Galicia (Spain) among adults $ 50 years.…”

The Sensitivity and Specificity of Subjective Memory Complaints and the Subjective Memory Rating Scale, Deterioration Cognitive Observee, Mini-Mental State Examination, Six-Item Screener and Clock Drawing Test in Dementia Screening

“…Objective cognitive impairment may be present in almost 50% of individuals with subjective memory complaints [25,26] , warranting clinicians to further investigate selfreports. Identifying valid measures of subjective cognitive impairment may therefore prove useful and have the potential to overcome some of the limitations related to the cross-cultural validity of objective cognitive assessment tools [27][28][29] .…”