Association between memory complaints and incident Alzheimer's disease in elderly people with normal baseline cognition.

In the community-based Amsterdam Study of the Elderly, a sample of 3,778 nondemented persons, 65-84 yrs old, was divided into 2 cognitive categories: normal, and borderline and impaired. At baseline, the presence or absence of memory complaints was assessed with a single question. At follow-up, incident cases of Alzheimer's disease were diagnosed in a 2-step procedure. After an average of 3.2 yrs, 2,169 persons were reevaluated, of whom 77 had incident Alzheimer's disease. Analyses showed that memory complaints were associated with incident Alzheimer's disease in Ss with normal baseline cognition but not in Ss with impaired baseline cognition. Findings suggest that memory complaints are a relatively strong predictor of incident Alzheimer's disease in older persons in whom cognitive impairment is not yet apparent. Also, they suggest that older persons may be aware of a decline in cognition at a time when mental status tests are still unable to detect a decline from premorbid functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2002 APA, all rights reserved)