Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Nov 14;67(9):1581-5.
doi: 10.1212/01.wnl.0000242734.16663.09.

Memory complaints are related to Alzheimer disease pathology in older persons

L L Barnes  1 , J A Schneider, P A Boyle, J L Bienias, D A Bennett
Affiliations

Memory complaints are related to Alzheimer disease pathology in older persons

L L Barnes et al. Neurology. .

Abstract

Objective: To study the relationship between Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology and memory complaints proximate to death.

Methods: A group of 90 older persons underwent detailed clinical evaluations and brain autopsy at death. The evaluations included administration of questions on subjective memory complaints and clinical classification of dementia and AD. On postmortem examination, neuritic plaques, diffuse plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles in tissue samples from five cortical regions were counted, and a summary measure of overall AD pathology was derived. In addition, amyloid load and tau tangles were quantified in eight regions.

Results: In multiple linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education, memory complaints were associated with AD pathology, including both amyloid and tau tangles. Subsequent analyses demonstrated that the relationship between memory complaints and AD pathology was present in those with and without dementia, and could not be explained by the potentially confounding effects of depressive symptoms or coexisting common chronic health problems.

Conclusion: Memory complaints in older persons may indicate self awareness of a degenerative process.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure
Figure
Box plots showing the median values for the composite score and the two memory complaints questions in the total sample, no Alzheimer disease (AD), and AD subgroups.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Schmand B, Jonker C, Hooijer C, Lindeboom J. Subjective memory complaints may announce dementia. Neurology. 1996;46:121–125. - PubMed
    1. Schmand B, Jonker C, Geerlings MI, Lindeboom J. Subjective memory complaints in the elderly: depressive symptoms and future dementia. Br J Psychiatry. 1997;171:373–376. - PubMed
    1. Geerlings MI, Jonker C, Bouter LM, Ader HJ, Schmand B. Association between memory complaints and incident Alzheimer's disease in elderly people with normal baseline cognition. Am J Psychiatry. 1999;156:531–537. - PubMed
    1. Schofield PW, Jacobs D, Marder K, Sano M, Stern Y. The validity of new memory complaints in the elderly. Arch Neurol. 1997;54:756–759. - PubMed
    1. Jorm AF, Christensen H, Korten AE, Henderson AS, Jacomb PA, Mackinnon A. Do cognitive complaints either predict future cognitive decline or reflect past cognitive decline? A longitudinal study of an elderly community sample. Psychol Med. 1997;27:91–98. - PubMed

Publication types