Symptoms Underlying Unawareness of Memory Impairment in Patients With Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

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 impairm...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology 2006-03, Vol.19 (1), p.3-12
Main Authors: Kazui, Hiroaki, Hirono, Nobutsugu, Hashimoto, Mamoru, Nakano, Yoko, Matsumoto, Keiji, Takatsuki, Yohoko, Mori, Etsuro, Ikejiri, Yoshitaka, Takeda, Masatoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affective Symptoms - diagnosis
Affective Symptoms - psychology
Age Factors
Aged
Alzheimer Disease - diagnosis
Alzheimer Disease - psychology
Alzheimer's disease
Awareness
Biological and medical sciences
Comorbidity
Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases
Delusional disorder
Delusions
Delusions - diagnosis
Delusions - psychology
Educational Status
Female
General aspects
Geriatrics
Health aspects
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Memory
Memory Disorders - diagnosis
Memory Disorders - psychology
Memory, Short-Term
Mental Status Schedule
Middle Aged
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Sick Role
Statistics as Topic
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0891-9887
1552-5708
DOI:10.1177/0891988705277543