UC San Diego

Introduction

The potential utility of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) as an early risk marker of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias is under consideration. We examined associations between SCD and cognitive change among middle-aged and older Hispanic/Latino adults living in the United States.

Methods

The short-form Everyday Cognition Scale (ECog-12) was assessed to generate global, executive function, and memory-related SCD scores. We used survey generalized regressions to model the change in learning, memory, verbal fluency, executive function, and global cognitive performance over 7 years as a function of SCD (at Visit 2).

Results

The mean age was 56.37 ± 8.10 years at Visit 1 (n = 6225). Higher ECog-12 was associated with greater decline in global cognitive performance (ECog-12 global: B = -0.17, standard error [SE] = 0.02; ECog-12 executive: B = -0.15, SE = 0.02; ECog-12 memory: B = -0.14, SE = 0.02, p's < 0.001).

Discussion

These results support the link between subjective reports of cognitive decline and objectively measured 7-year cognitive decline in community-dwelling, middle-aged, and older Hispanic/Latino adults.

Highlights

We found that nearly two-thirds of diverse middle-aged and older Hispanics/Latinos reported cognitive concerns in a large and representative population study. Self-reported subjective experiences of cognitive decline reflect objective cognitive decline in US Hispanics/Latinos. The relationship is stronger among men compared to women. The relationship between subjective and objective changes to memory are stronger in those with cognitive concerns, and remain even in cognitively healthy individuals.