title: Symptoms underlying unawareness of memory impairment in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.
abstract: Patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are often unaware of their cognitive impairment. This unawareness might have a multifactorial etiology, including impairment of cognitive domains and psychiatric symptoms. We conducted this study to determine the factors underlying unawareness of memory impairment (UMI) in patients with AD. In 103 patients with mild AD, the UMI was quantified as the difference between the patient's self-rating and the rating of the patient's caregiver on a standardized memory questionnaire system, the Everyday Memory Checklist. We then examined the relationships between UMI and memory, attention, language, visuospatial/constructive perception, frontal lobe function, and psychiatric symptoms. UMI was positively associated with memory impairment and delusions when effects of age, sex, and education were partialled out, suggesting that these symptoms are involved in the formation of UMI in the patients. Thus, existing treatments for memory impairment and delusions may be beneficial for increasing the awareness of mild AD patients of their cognitive impairment.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita-shi, Osaka, Japan. kazui@psy.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kazui
authors.forename: Nobutsugu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hirono
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Yohoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takatsuki
authors.forename: Etsuro
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ikejiri
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
mesh_terms: D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001364:Awareness; D015897:Comorbidity; D003702:Delusions / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012803:Sick Role; D013223:Statistics as Topic