Self-Awareness for Memory Impairment in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Longitudinal Study

Aim: To assess memory impairment insight as a predictor of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: To verify whether the awareness of memory impairment assessed by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was associated with the risk of progression to dementia and AD in a cohort of MCI, we used a Cox regression model adjusted for age, sex, education, subtypes of amnestic MCI, Mini-Mental State Examination, Cumulative Illness Rating Scale severity index, and apolipoprotein E genotype.

Results: During a follow-up of 27.7 (20.8) months, 205 (63.3%) of 324 patients with amnestic MCI progressed to dementia, including 141 to AD. No association was found in the unadjusted, partially adjusted (for sociodemographic variables), and fully adjusted multivariate Cox analysis between the awareness of memory impairment and the progression to dementia and AD.

Discussion: Awareness or anosognosia of memory deficits, identified by GDS, is not useful to predict progression to dementia of patients with amnestic MCI.