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. 2013 Dec;28(8):776-83.
doi: 10.1177/1533317513504817.

Subjective memory complaints, cognitive performance, and psychological factors in healthy older adults

Susanne I Steinberg  1 , Selamawit Negash, Mary D Sammel, Hillary Bogner, Brian T Harel, Melissa G Livney, Hannah McCoubrey, David A Wolk, Mitchel A Kling, Steven E Arnold
Affiliations

Subjective memory complaints, cognitive performance, and psychological factors in healthy older adults

Susanne I Steinberg et al. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether subjective memory complaints (SMCs) are associated with performance on objective cognitive measures and psychological factors in healthy, community-dwelling older adults.

Method: The cohort was composed of adults, 65 years and older with no clinical evidence of cognitive impairment (n = 125). Participants were administered: CogState computerized neurocognitive battery, Prospective Retrospective Memory Questionnaire, personality and meaning-in-life measures.

Results: SMCs were associated with poorer performance on measures of executive function (p = 0.001). SMCs were also associated with impaired delayed recall (p = 0.006) but this did not remain significant after statistical adjustment for multiple comparisons. SMCs were inversely associated with conscientiousness (p = 0.004) and directly associated with neuroticism (p < 0.001). Higher scores on SMCs were associated with higher perceived stress (p = 0.001), and ineffective coping styles (p = 0.001). Factors contributing to meaning-in-life were associated with fewer SMCs (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: SMCs may reflect early, subtle cognitive changes and are associated with personality traits and meaning-in-life in healthy, older adults.

Keywords: cognitive performance; healthy; meaning-in-life; older adults; personality traits; subjective memory complaints.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Steven E. Arnold has board memberships with Teva and Bristol Myers Squibb. He presently does consultancy work for Pain Therapeutics. He has also received payment for lectures including service on speaker’s bureaus for Rush University Medical Center, Trinitas Regional Medical Center, and University of Puerto Rico. Brian Harel is a full-time employee of CogState, the company that provided the cognitive tests used in the study. Mary Sammel provided consultant services for Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH.

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