Relationship between subjective memory complaint, depression, and cognition in Hong Kong Chinese

Abstract

Subjective memory complaint (SMC) is common in older people and has been found to associate with depressive symptoms and future cognitive decline. However, the relationship between them is complex and still inconclusive. Understanding the respective extent SMC and depression explain and predict changes in cognitive function may provide insight. Our study followed 2,081 community-dwelling older persons aged 65 or above in Hong Kong for one year, and measured their SMC with a dichotomous question, depression with Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and cognition with Cantonese Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Baseline SMC and GDS scores were moderately correlated (r = .42, p < .001), and they were associated with poorer cognition after controlling for age, gender and education at baseline (R2 change = .03, p < .001), and at follow-up (R2 change = .03, p < .001). However, only depression was predictive of changes in cognition, not age, gender, education, or SMC.