Back to Search
Start Over
A follow-up study of age-associated memory impairment: neuropsychological predictors of dementia.
- Source :
-
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society [J Am Geriatr Soc] 1995 Sep; Vol. 43 (9), pp. 1007-15. - Publication Year :
- 1995
-
Abstract
- Objective: To examine the clinical course of age-associated memory impairment (AAMI) and to evaluate the value of neuropsychological tests in predicting cognitive decline in AAMI subjects in a follow-up period of more than 3 years.<br />Design: Prospective cohort study.<br />Setting: The outpatient Memory Research Unit of the Department of Neurology at the University of Kuopio in Eastern Finland.<br />Participants: A sample of 229 subjects (mean age 71.7 years) identified in two screening studies as having AAMI.<br />Measurements: A battery of neuropsychological tests and a structured inquiry for health status and subjective memory complaints were performed at baseline and follow-up to diagnose AAMI according to the criteria proposed by a National Institute of Mental Health work group.<br />Results: Of the 229 subjects, 176 (76.9%) participated in the follow-up for, on average, 3.6 years after the baseline. Of the participants, 104 (59.1%) still met the AAMI criteria. Other subjects were classified into five subgroups: (1) subjects showing decline in cognition meeting dementia diagnosis (16, 9.1% (13 of them AD)); (2) subjects with mild cognitive decline meeting neither dementia nor AAMI criteria (13, 7.4%); (3) subjects with memory performance now superior to AAMI criteria (17, 9.7%); (4) subjects having a disease classified as exclusion in the criteria (15, 8.5%); (5) subjects not now reporting subjective memory loss in everyday life (9, 5.1%). Two subjects (1.1%) were not classified because of incomplete data. Neuropsychological tests predicted which subjects would develop dementia during the follow-up period. The best discriminators between these subjects and those who remained AAMI were memory and verbal fluency tests.<br />Conclusion: The study suggests that, in general, AAMI is nonprogressive, but the AAMI population also includes subjects with early dementia and subjects without genuine memory loss. However, these subjects can be differentiated with a more detailed neuropsychological evaluation.
- Subjects :
- Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Aging psychology
Cohort Studies
Dementia classification
Dementia complications
Dementia epidemiology
Female
Finland
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Incidence
Male
Memory Disorders complications
Memory Disorders diagnosis
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Predictive Value of Tests
Prospective Studies
Random Allocation
Dementia diagnosis
Geriatric Assessment
Memory Disorders epidemiology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0002-8614
- Volume :
- 43
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 7657916
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.1995.tb05565.x