Physical multimorbidity and subjective cognitive complaints among adults in the United Kingdom: a cross-sectional community-based study

Abstract

Our goal was to examine the association between physical multimorbidity and subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) using UK nationally representative cross-sectional community-based data, and to quantify the extent to which a broad range of mainly psychological and behavioral factors explain this relationship. Data from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey were analyzed [N = 7399 adults, mean (SD) age 46.3 (18.6) years, 48.6% men]. Multimorbidity was defined as ≥2 physical diseases. SCC included two different cognitive constructs: subjective concentration and memory complaints. Multivariable logistic regression and mediation analyses were conducted. Multimorbidity was associated with higher prevalence of subjective concentration (30.7% vs. 17.3%) and memory complaints (42.8% vs. 22.9%) compared to no multimorbidity. In the regression model adjusted for sociodemographics, multimorbidity was associated with subjective concentration (OR = 2.58; 95% CI = 2.25-2.96) and memory complaints (OR = 2.34; 95% CI = 2.08-2.62). Sleep problems, stressful life events and any anxiety disorder explained 21-23%, 20-22% and 14-15% of the multimorbidity-SCC association, respectively. Multimorbidity and SCC are highly co-morbid. The utility of SCC screening in identifying individuals at high risk for future cognitive decline among individuals with multimorbidity should be assessed.

Figure 1

Prevalence of subjective concentration and memory complaints by number of chronic physical conditions. Subjective concentration complaints were assessed with the following question: “In the past month, have you had any problems with concentrating on what you were doing?”. Subjective memory complaints were assessed with the following question: “Have you noticed any problems with forgetting things in the past month?”.