title: Self and informant memory concerns align in healthy memory complainers and in early stages of mild cognitive impairment but separate with increasing cognitive impairment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Information provided by an informant about a patient with cognitive change is an essential component of clinical history taking. How an informant's report relates to the patient's phenomenological experience of memory loss is yet to be understood. The aim was to examine patterns of relationships between self and informant reports from a phenomenological perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-three healthy non-memory complainers (HC-NMC), 37 healthy subjective memory complainers (HC-SMC) and 43 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) were administered a semi-structured interview, which measured their concerns of frequency of memory lapses and impact on mood. Informants responded to questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Self-reported concerns of increasing frequency and impacted mood related to informant concerns in HC-SMCs. MCI with lower informant concern showed a similar pattern to HC-SMCs on complaints of increasing frequency. In those with higher informant concern, self-reports markedly separated from informant concern. The MCI group with greater informant concern performed comparatively poor on verbal and non-verbal memory measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that the association between self-reported and informant memory concerns is moderated by MCI severity. Self and informant reports of increasing memory lapse frequency aligned in HC-SMC and MCIs with low informant concern, suggesting a similar dyadic experience of memory change. In MCIs with greater informant concern, the pattern changed exposing a changing insight with advancing memory impairment. These individuals are potentially reflecting a 'forgetting that they forget' phenomenon in elements of their concern.
authors.affiliation: Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia Florey Institutes of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.affiliation: Florey Institutes of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saling
authors.affiliation: Florey Institutes of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia The Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, St Vincent's Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Medicine and Centre for PET, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia The Department of Medicine, Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.affiliation: Cogstate Ltd., Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maruff
authors.affiliation: Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization Food and Nutrition Flagship, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Lance S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Macaulay
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences and West Australian Centre for Health and Ageing, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia Sir James McCusker Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, Hollywood Private Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.affiliation: Florey Institutes of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Masters
authors.affiliation: School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.affiliation: Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Care, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia Sir James McCusker Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, Hollywood Private Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rainey-Smith
authors.affiliation: Florey Institutes of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rembach
authors.affiliation: National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia The Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, St Vincent's Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ames
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D057566:Self Report; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; memory; mild cognitive impairment; older people; subjective memory complaints