Subjective Cognitive Complaints and Amyloid Burden in Cognitively Normal Older Individuals

Overview

Journal Neuropsychologia

Specialties Neurology
Psychology

Date 2012 Sep 4

PMID 22940426

Citations 232

Authors

Rebecca E Amariglio

J Alex Becker

Jeremy Carmasin

Lauren P Wadsworth

Natacha Lorius

Caroline Sullivan

Jacqueline E Maye

Christopher Gidicsin

Lesley C Pepin

Reisa A Sperling

Keith A Johnson

Dorene M Rentz

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) may indicate subtle cognitive decline characteristic of individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we sought to build upon previous studies by associating SCC and amyloid-β deposition using positron emission tomography with Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB-PET) in cognitively normal older individuals. One-hundred thirty one subjects (mean age 73.5±6) were administered three subjective cognitive questionnaires and a brief neuropsychological battery. A relationship between a subjective memory complaints composite score and cortical PiB binding was found to be significant, even after controlling for depressive symptoms. By contrast, there were no significant relationships between objective cognitive measures of memory and executive functions and cortical PiB binding. Our study suggests that SCC may be an early indicator of AD pathology detectable prior to significant objective impairment.

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