Subjective working and declarative memory in dementia and normal aging.

Abstract

Subjective memory complaints are common in both elderly individuals and patients with dementia. This study investigated the power of subjective memory, divided into declarative and working memory, to differentiate between patients with dementia and normal elderly individuals. Two groups of participants, patients with dementia (n=117) and normal elderly individuals (n=117), individually matched with regard to age, gender, and education. All subjects had participated in the third wave of the HUNT population health survey in Nord-Trøndelag County in Norway and completed the Meta-Memory Questionnaire (MMQ) in the HUNT study. The MMQ was subdivided into two components, one associated with declarative memory (episodic and semantic) and the other with working memory. Patients with dementia reported significantly more subjective memory concerns than normal elderly individuals. The difference between working and declarative memory components was significantly greater in patients with dementia than in normal elderly individuals. This finding made it possible to differentiate patients with dementia from the normal elderly individuals. Mental and somatic health conditions did not significantly add power to differentiating the two groups. In clinical and research applications, subjective memory components could contribute to differentiation of patients with dementia and normal elderly individuals by using self-reported impairment in working memory, rather than declarative memory.