Some interesting research news is coming out of the Alzheimer’s Association’s annual meeting in Boston. Studies on “subjective cognitive decline”—that is, self-reported deterioration in memory—indicate that such decline, often dismissed as insignificant by neurologists, in fact may well be an early sign of Alzheimer’s-related dementia. One study said that self-reported changes in memory predicted more clinical presentation of cognitive decline by an average of six years. Said Dorothy Rentz, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital, a co-author of one of the studies, “Maybe these people know something about themselves. Maybe we should pay attention to them.” The research is food for thought for clinicians. It also emphasizes the need for more precise biomarker tests to identify Alzheimer’s or Alzheimer’s risk at the earliest possible stage—the subject of two articles in the July 2013 issue of MLO, see pages 52-57.
