Dementia worry and its relationship to dementia exposure, psychological factors, and subjective memory concerns

Abstract

With increased societal awareness of dementia, older adults show increased concern about developing dementia, leading to misidentification of aging-related cognitive glitches as signs of dementia. While some researchers have suggested self-reported cognitive concerns accurately identify older adults with early signs of dementia, there is evidence that subjective cognitive decline is not associated with objective cognitive performance and instead reflects psychological factors consistent with models of health anxiety, including dementia worry. We examined the construct of dementia worry and its relationship to subjective memory concerns in 100 older adults (Mage = 69 years) without signs of dementia, using a recently developed measure of dementia worry. Consistent with hypotheses, dementia worry was related to exposure to dementia, having a high number of depressive or general worry symptoms, and having more memory concerns. Exposure to dementia moderated the relationship of dementia worry to depression and general worry. Furthermore, dementia worry moderated the relationship of objective memory impairment to subjective memory ratings. The results provide further evidence of the role of psychological factors such as dementia worry in subjective memory report and emphasize the need for objective cognitive testing before making determinations about dementia in older adults expressing memory concerns.