title: Memory complaints in young and elderly subjects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare the quantitative and qualitative aspects of memory complaints in cognitively normal subjects aged under and above 50 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  A memory clinic located in a general hospital in a suburb of Paris offering direct access to subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of the files of consecutive patients who attended the clinic during one year.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects were included if (a) they presented with memory complaints, (b) they had normal general cognitive functioning according to age and educational level, (c) they were devoid of present or past history of neurologic or psychiatric disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects rated the severity of memory complaints as major or minor and filled in a 8-item questionnaire assessing various memory difficulties in everyday life. Relationship between severity of memory complaints and demographic data, memory performance and affective status was compared in 183 non-depressed, non-cognitively impaired healthy adults aged 50 years and over, and in 77 younger adults.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Semiologic aspects and correlates of memory complaints were similar in younger and older adults. No close relationship was found between severity of memory complaints and memory performance. In both age groups, memory complaints were strongly related to affective status, mainly to the severity of anxious symptomatology. Memory complaints were related to gender in younger subjects, and to subjective assessment of well-being in older.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Memory complaints of elderly do not appear basically different from memory complaints of younger subjects. They constitute a complex psychological symptom unlikely to be explained by a few variables and cannot be reduced to the subjective counterpart of memory performance decline associated with age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hôpital de la Salpêtriere, Paris, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Derouesné
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lacomblez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thibault
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: LePoncin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged / Q000502:physiology*; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001007:Anxiety / Q000150:complications; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications; D008875:Middle Aged; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors