Cognitive Complaints in Aging Adults

随着人口的持续老龄化，痴呆和阿尔茨海默病（AD）的发病率急剧增加。 增加，导致迫切需要确定那些老年人有不健康的大脑老化的风险， 痴呆轻度认知功能障碍（MCI）是公认的AD前驱期。因为， 60%的MCI患者在三年内转变为AD，MCI的早期识别正在成为 越来越重要。不幸的是，估计至少有一半的MCI患者 在社区中未被确诊。初级保健水平的许多障碍与诊断不足有关， MCI，包括没有足够的时间评估认知和缺乏有效的筛查工具， 初级保健.为了克服这些障碍，本研究将探讨认知抱怨的本质 为了开发一个有效和可靠的认知投诉措施，以社区为基础的 老年人拟议研究中的信息将提供一个具有成本效益和时间效益的工具， 评估和转诊决定的初级保健病人需要一个更全面的记忆工作- 起来使用病例对照队列，我们将验证一组可靠测量认知主诉的问题 关于鉴别诊断和关于客观认知表现，神经解剖学 变化和生物标志物水平。指导培训活动将侧重于潜在变量建模， 衰老研究中的神经成像原理，社区内心理工具的临床实施， 和专业发展。拟议的研究和培训将利用一个跨学科小组 （包括神经心理学，老年医学，神经学，神经放射学和生物统计学）以及资源 与范德比尔特记忆和阿尔茨海默氏症中心，范德比尔特大学成像研究所 科学，和范德比尔特大学生物统计学系，以实现目标概述。

As the population continues to age, the incidence of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) is dramatically increasing, resulting in an urgent need to identify those older adults at risk for unhealthy brain aging and dementia. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a well-accepted prodromal phase of AD. Because as many as 60% of individuals with MCI convert to AD within a three-year period, early identification of MCI is becoming increasingly important. Unfortunately, estimates suggest that at least half of individuals with MCI go undiagnosed in the community. Many barriers at the primary care level are associated with under-diagnosis of MCI, including insufficient time to assess cognition and lack of efficient screening tools available for use in primary care. To overcome these barriers, the current study will examine the nature of cognitive complaints within the community in order to develop a valid and reliable cognitive complaint measure for community-based older adults. Information from the proposed study will provide a cost-effective and time-efficient tool to aid in assessment and referral decisions for primary care patients in need of a more comprehensive memory work- up. Using a case-control cohort, we will validate a set of questions that reliably measure cognitive complaint with respect to differential diagnosis and in relation to objective cognitive performance, neuroanatomical changes, and biomarker levels. Mentored training activities will focus on latent variable modeling, neuroimaging principles in aging research, clinical implementation of psychological tools within the community, and professional development. The proposed study and training will leverage an interdisciplinary team (including neuropsychology, geriatrics, neurology, neuroradiology, and biostatistics) as well as resources associated with the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer's Center, the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, and the Vanderbilt University Department of Biostatistics to fulfill the aims outlined.