Regular Research ArticlesPrevalence and Predictors of “Subjective Cognitive Complaints” in the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study
Section snippets
Participants
Eight thousand nine hundred fourteen individuals aged 70–90 years listed on the electoral roll in eastern Sydney, Australia, were invited to participate in the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study. Seven thousand one hundred forty-two either did not respond or declined participation; the remaining 1,772 were contacted by telephone to confirm eligibility. Seven hundred thirty-five of these individuals were either ineligible or declined after further information about the study. The final sample,
RESULTS
Overall, 95.5% of participants or their informants endorsed at least one SCC. At least one memory complaint was endorsed by 89.5% of participants and 64.2% of informants, and at least one nonmemory complaint was endorsed by 70.4% of participants and 32.5% of informants. On average, participants endorsed 30.2% of the memory complaint questions and 14.7% of the nonmemory complaint questions, and informants endorsed 20.8% of the memory complaint questions and 11% of the nonmemory complaint
DISCUSSION
In this article, we have described reports of cognitive problems by nondemented community-dwelling elderly individuals and their “informants.” We have referred to these reports as “subjective complaints” for ease of reading and in keeping with the literature. Petersen1 mentions informant report in the diagnostic criteria for MCI in stating “memory complaint, preferably corroborated by an informant” (p 185; our italics). The International Working Group consensus criteria2 mention “subjective
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The authors thank all participants in the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS), and the MAS Research Team.
This work was supported by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Program Grant (350833) and Capacity Building Grant (568940).
An earlier version of this work was presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, July 26–31, 2008, Chicago, IL.