Awareness of memory abilities in community-dwelling older adults with suspected dementia and mild cognitive impairment.
OBJECTIVE
To examine awareness of memory abilities by groups (healthy control, suspected dementia/mild cognitive impairment, MCI, and diagnosed dementia/MCI), and to describe group differences in the relationship between awareness and cognitive performance in a community sample.


METHODS
In a cross-sectional design, 183 subjects were evaluated in a community setting and categorized into 3 groups based on their cognitive performance and reported medical history. Awareness of memory abilities was quantified using a published anosognosia ratio (AR) comparing the estimated to the objective memory performance by subjects. Each group was further categorized into 'overestimators', 'accurate estimators', and 'underestimators' based on their AR scores.


RESULTS
The suspected and diagnosed dementia/MCI groups had significantly higher AR scores than the controls. The suspected group also had a significantly larger proportion (96.2%) of overestimators than the diagnosed (73.3%) and control groups (26.1%). Impaired awareness in overestimators of the suspected and diagnosed groups was correlated with deficits in executive function, language or global cognition.


CONCLUSIONS
Impaired awareness of memory abilities was prevalent in community-dwelling older adults with suspected and diagnosed dementia or MCI. Those with suspected dementia or MCI were more likely to overestimate their memory abilities than their diagnosed counterparts, suggesting that limited awareness of deficits may hinder utilization of dementia diagnostic services.
Lin
Feng
F
School of Nursing, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Wharton
Whitney
W
Dowling
N Maritza
NM
Ries
Michele L
ML
Johnson
Sterling C
SC
Carlsson
Cynthia M
CM
Asthana
Sanjay
S
Gleason
Carey E
CE
D000368:Aged; D001364:Awareness; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003704:Dementia / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012649:Self Concept