. 2020 Dec 18;12(1):167.

doi: 10.1186/s13195-020-00734-y.

Estimating prevalence of subjective cognitive decline in and across international cohort studies of aging: a COSMIC study

Susanne Röhr^{1

2}, Alexander Pabst³, Steffi G Riedel-Heller³, Frank Jessen^{4

5}, Yuda Turana⁶, Yvonne S Handajani⁷, Carol Brayne⁸, Fiona E Matthews^{9

10}, Blossom C M Stephan¹⁰, Richard B Lipton^{11

12

13}, Mindy J Katz¹¹, Cuiling Wang¹², Maëlenn Guerchet^{14

15

16}, Pierre-Marie Preux^{14

15

17}, Pascal Mbelesso^{14

15

18}, Karen Ritchie^{19

20}, Marie-Laure Ancelin¹⁹, Isabelle Carrière¹⁹, Antonio Guaita²¹, Annalisa Davin²¹, Roberta Vaccaro²¹, Ki Woong Kim^{22

23

24}, Ji Won Han²², Seung Wan Suh²³, Suzana Shahar²⁵, Normah C Din²⁶, Divya Vanoh²⁷, Martin van Boxtel²⁸, Sebastian Köhler²⁸, Mary Ganguli^{29

30

31}, Erin P Jacobsen²⁹, Beth E Snitz³⁰, Kaarin J Anstey^{32

33

34}, Nicolas Cherbuin³⁴, Shuzo Kumagai³⁵, Sanmei Chen³⁶, Kenji Narazaki³⁷, Tze Pin Ng³⁸, Qi Gao³⁸, Xinyi Gwee³⁸, Henry Brodaty^{39

40}, Nicole A Kochan³⁹, Julian Trollor^{39

41}, Antonio Lobo^{42

43}, Raúl López-Antón^{42

44}, Javier Santabárbara^{42

45}, John D Crawford³⁹, Darren M Lipnicki³⁹, Perminder S Sachdev^{39

40}; for Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC)

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. susanne.roehr@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
² Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. susanne.roehr@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
³ Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne, Medical Faculty, Cologne, Germany.
⁵ German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
⁶ Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁷ Center for Health Research, School of Medicine, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁸ Cambridge Public Health, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁰ Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
¹¹ Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
¹² Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁴ INSERM, U1094, Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Limoges, France.
¹⁵ Univ. Limoges, U1094, Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Institute of Epidemiology and Tropical Neurology, GEIST, Limoges, France.
¹⁶ IRD, Associated Unit, Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Limoges, France.
¹⁷ CHU, Department of Medical Information & Evaluation, Clinical Research and Biostatistic Unit, Limoges, France.
¹⁸ Department of Neurology, Amitié Hospital, Bangui, Central African Republic.
¹⁹ INSERM U1061 Neuropsychiatry: Epidemiological and Clinical Research, La Colombière Hospital, Montpellier Cedex 5, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
²⁰ Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
²¹ Golgi Cenci Foundation, Corso San Martino 10, 20081, Abbiategrasso, Italy.
²² Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
²³ Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
²⁴ Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
²⁵ Centre of Healthy Aging and Wellness, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
²⁶ Centre for Rehabilitation Science and Special Needs, Faculty of Health Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
²⁷ School of Health Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia.
²⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC), Maastricht, The Netherlands.
²⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³⁰ Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³¹ Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³² Ageing Futures Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³³ Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³⁴ Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, College of Health and Medicine, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
³⁵ Center for Health Science and Counseling, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
³⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
³⁷ Faculty of Socio-Environmental Studies, Department of Socio-Environmental Studies, Fukuoka Institute of Technology, 3-30-1 Wajiro-higashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 811-0295, Japan.
³⁸ Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
³⁹ Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁴⁰ Dementia Collaborative Research Centre, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁴¹ Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁴² Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Ministry of Science and Innovation, Madrid, Spain.
⁴³ Department of Medicine and Psychiatry, Universidad de Zaragoza and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴⁴ Department of Psychology and Sociology, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴⁵ Department of Microbiology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.

PMID: 33339532
PMCID: PMC7749505
DOI: 10.1186/s13195-020-00734-y

Estimating prevalence of subjective cognitive decline in and across international cohort studies of aging: a COSMIC study

Susanne Röhr et al. Alzheimers Res Ther. 2020.

. 2020 Dec 18;12(1):167.

doi: 10.1186/s13195-020-00734-y.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany. susanne.roehr@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
² Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. susanne.roehr@medizin.uni-leipzig.de.
³ Institute of Social Medicine, Occupational Health and Public Health (ISAP), Medical Faculty, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Straße 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne, Medical Faculty, Cologne, Germany.
⁵ German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
⁶ Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁷ Center for Health Research, School of Medicine, Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia.
⁸ Cambridge Public Health, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
⁹ MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
¹⁰ Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
¹¹ Saul R. Korey Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
¹² Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
¹³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁴ INSERM, U1094, Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Limoges, France.
¹⁵ Univ. Limoges, U1094, Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Institute of Epidemiology and Tropical Neurology, GEIST, Limoges, France.
¹⁶ IRD, Associated Unit, Tropical Neuroepidemiology, Limoges, France.
¹⁷ CHU, Department of Medical Information & Evaluation, Clinical Research and Biostatistic Unit, Limoges, France.
¹⁸ Department of Neurology, Amitié Hospital, Bangui, Central African Republic.
¹⁹ INSERM U1061 Neuropsychiatry: Epidemiological and Clinical Research, La Colombière Hospital, Montpellier Cedex 5, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
²⁰ Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
²¹ Golgi Cenci Foundation, Corso San Martino 10, 20081, Abbiategrasso, Italy.
²² Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Republic of Korea.
²³ Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
²⁴ Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, Seoul National University College of Natural Sciences, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
²⁵ Centre of Healthy Aging and Wellness, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
²⁶ Centre for Rehabilitation Science and Special Needs, Faculty of Health Science, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
²⁷ School of Health Science, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia.
²⁸ Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNs), Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC), Maastricht, The Netherlands.
²⁹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³⁰ Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³¹ Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
³² Ageing Futures Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³³ Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
³⁴ Centre for Research on Ageing, Health and Wellbeing, College of Health and Medicine, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
³⁵ Center for Health Science and Counseling, Kyushu University, 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
³⁶ Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 812-8582, Japan.
³⁷ Faculty of Socio-Environmental Studies, Department of Socio-Environmental Studies, Fukuoka Institute of Technology, 3-30-1 Wajiro-higashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 811-0295, Japan.
³⁸ Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
³⁹ Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁴⁰ Dementia Collaborative Research Centre, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁴¹ Department of Developmental Disability Neuropsychiatry, University of New South Wales Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁴² Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Ministry of Science and Innovation, Madrid, Spain.
⁴³ Department of Medicine and Psychiatry, Universidad de Zaragoza and Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴⁴ Department of Psychology and Sociology, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.
⁴⁵ Department of Microbiology, Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain.

PMID: 33339532
PMCID: PMC7749505
DOI: 10.1186/s13195-020-00734-y

Abstract

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is recognized as a risk stage for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other dementias, but its prevalence is not well known. We aimed to use uniform criteria to better estimate SCD prevalence across international cohorts.

Methods: We combined individual participant data for 16 cohorts from 15 countries (members of the COSMIC consortium) and used qualitative and quantitative (Item Response Theory/IRT) harmonization techniques to estimate SCD prevalence.

Results: The sample comprised 39,387 cognitively unimpaired individuals above age 60. The prevalence of SCD across studies was around one quarter with both qualitative harmonization/QH (23.8%, 95%CI = 23.3-24.4%) and IRT (25.6%, 95%CI = 25.1-26.1%); however, prevalence estimates varied largely between studies (QH 6.1%, 95%CI = 5.1-7.0%, to 52.7%, 95%CI = 47.4-58.0%; IRT: 7.8%, 95%CI = 6.8-8.9%, to 52.7%, 95%CI = 47.4-58.0%). Across studies, SCD prevalence was higher in men than women, in lower levels of education, in Asian and Black African people compared to White people, in lower- and middle-income countries compared to high-income countries, and in studies conducted in later decades.

Conclusions: SCD is frequent in old age. Having a quarter of older individuals with SCD warrants further investigation of its significance, as a risk stage for AD and other dementias, and of ways to help individuals with SCD who seek medical advice. Moreover, a standardized instrument to measure SCD is needed to overcome the measurement variability currently dominant in the field.

Keywords: Cohort study; Data harmonization; Epidemiology; Individual participant data; Prevalence; Subjective cognitive decline.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
SCD prevalence according to age groups and gender in older individuals (≥ 60 years) without cognitive impairment across international cohort studies (percentages). Estimates are based on Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Estimating prevalence of subjective cognitive decline in and across international cohort studies of aging: a COSMIC study

Affiliations

Estimating prevalence of subjective cognitive decline in and across international cohort studies of aging: a COSMIC study

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources