[Memory complaints in 200 subjects meeting the diagnostic criteria for age-associated memory impairment: psychoaffective and cognitive correlates].

We studied 200 subjects recruited by general practioners and meeting the seminal criteria for the age-associated memory impairment construct (AAMI). These criteria did not allow to select an homogeneous population. Three groups could be distinguished. First, 18 subjects had apparent psychoaffective disturbances, mainly related to anxiety. Second, 41 subjects had lower memory performance than the other subjects and could be classified as severe AAMI or late-life forgetfulness, former constructs similar to the present construct of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A large majority of subjects (n -/+ 141) had no apparent psychoaffective disturbances and normal memory performance. They could correspond to the proper AAMI construct. Actually, two subgroups could be distinguished in these subjects. Half of them had low cognitive complaints, assessed by the cognitive difficulties scale, compared to those formerly found in a population of 1349 subjects aged over 50, studied by GP, but not specifically recruited on the presence of memory complaints. These subjects could be considered as quite normal subjects. The other half of AAMI subjects had higher scores of memory complaints and more psychoafective disturbances than the subjects of the first group. No relationship was found between subjective complaints and memory performance in the total population as well as in any subgroup. The main correlate of memory complaints was the score on the Zung anxiety scale in the total population, the LLF and the AAMI groups. This study do not support the existence of a specific category of aged subjects intermediate between normal subjects without subjective memory decline and patients with MCI or incipient Alzheimer's disease. Memory complaints appear to be related to psychoaffective disturbances even in subjects with low memory performance.