Cognitive failures in healthy middle-aged Spanish adults: A cross-sectional study describing magnitude categories of subjective cognitive deficits

• G. Navarra-Ventura ^[1] ; Sol Fernandez Gonzalo ; Maria Serra Blasco ^[1] ; M. Vicent-Gil ^[1] ; Diego J. Palao Vidal ; N. Cardoner
  1. [1] Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

     Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

     Barcelona, España

     
• Localización: European journal of psychiatry, ISSN 0213-6163, Vol. 33, Nº 3, 2019, págs. 135-141
• Idioma: español
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• Resumen

  • Background and objectives Healthy people with intact cognitive functioning may also experience subjective cognitive deficits (SCD). However, no study has thoroughly explored these symptoms in healthy Spaniards. Therefore, we aimed to: (i) describe the pattern of SCD in this population, (ii) report magnitude categories of SCD, and (iii) correlate SCD with age, gender and years of education.

    Methods 102 healthy Spaniards (51 men) were recruited. Men and women subgroups were matched by age and years of education. SCD were evaluated using the 20-item Perceived Deficits Questionnaire (PDQ-20). Magnitude categories of SCD were described as distribution-based quartiles of the total PDQ-20 score, with higher scores/quartiles indicating greater SCD. Participants with a total PDQ-20 score greater than 2 standard deviations (SD) above normal variation were considered at risk of clinically significant SCD.

    Results Mean total PDQ-20 score was 17.98 (SD = 8.29), with higher scores on “Attention/Concentration” and “Retrospective Memory” subscales than on “Planning/Organization” and “Prospective Memory” subscales. Total PDQ-20 score distribution by quartile was: 0–11 (1st quartile), 12–17 (2nd quartile), 18–23 (3rd quartile) and 24–80 (4th quartile). Only 1.96% of participants were at risk of clinically significant SCD. There was a marginal trend in the association between age and “Retrospective Memory” subscale (rs = 0.256; p = 0.009).

    Conclusions Our findings may help health professionals interpret PDQ-20 scores more accurately in clinical settings. A total PDQ-20 score equal or greater to 35 may be a valid threshold for identifying people at risk of clinically significant SCD. Assessment of SCD may improve the ecological validity of research on human cognition.