Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) Mental and Behavioural Disorders
Conditions
Interventions
At present there is little to offer to people with Subjective Cognitive Decline because most services focus on the treatment of people who have already received a diagnosis of dementia. In this study
Sponsors
University of Bristol
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: 1. Has expressed concern about cognitive decline (subjective cognitive decline) and has answered “yes” to the following question: “Are you concerned or worried that you are experiencing significant decline in your thinking abilities, more than just normal ageing?” 2. Aged over 45 years 3. In the opinion of the investigator, is capable of understanding and complying with protocol requirements 4. In the opinion of the investigator, is able to physically perform the cognitive tests and is fluent in the language that tests will be administered. The study also includes a small sample of people with Functional Cognitive Disorder (FCD). These patients are recruited through our Memory Clinic and have already received this diagnosis.
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: 1. Has a current diagnosis or history of any type of cognitive impairment or dementia, or has a current diagnosis of neurological/psychiatric disorder or any other diagnosis that significantly affects cognitive performance (including substance abuse) 2. Incapable of doing a brisk walk 3. Has been exposed to the cognitive tests performed in this study within 6 months prior to the baseline assessment 4. Score on MoCA test is <20. An individual with a MoCA score this low may have significant cognitive decline (Larner, 2012) and should be referred to their GP. 5. Knows his or her own ApoE genotype/phenotype 6. Cannot adequately understand verbal explanations or written information given in English
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Cognitive impairment assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al., 2005) at baseline 2. Likelihood of memory malingering assessed using the Test of Memory Malingering (TOMM; Tombaugh, 1997) at baseline 3. Cognitive reserve assessed using the Cognitive Reserve Index Questionnaire (CRIq; Nucci, Mapelli, & Mondini, 2012) at baseline 4. Letter verbal fluency (retrieval ability, executive functioning and semantic knowledge) at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months. Participants are given three different letters of the alphabet and are asked to generate as many words as they can that begin with these letters in 1 minute. 5. Semantic category verbal fluency (retrieval ability, executive functioning and semantic knowledge) at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months. Participants are given a category (articles of clothing, animals, fruit and vegetables) and asked to say as many words as possible that belong to these categories in 1 minute. 6. short-term memory, learning, recognition and proactive interference assessed using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (Lezak, 1976, 1983) with the alternate versions of Geffen (Geffen, Butterworth, & Geffen, 1994) and Majdan (Majdan, Sziklas, & Jones-Gotman, 1996) at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months 7. Working memory assessed using the N-back test on a university laptop (based on Verhaeghen & Basak, 2005) at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months 8. Mental flexibility, attention and task switching assessed using the Trail Making Test parts A and B (Reitan, 1955) at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months 9. Functional memory assessed using the 10-item Functional Memory Disorder Questionnaire (Schmidtke & Metternich, 2009) 10. Health anxiety assessed using the Health Anxiety Inventory (Salkovskis, Rimes, Warwick, & Clark, 2002) at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months 11. Mindfulness ass | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Background information including age, gender, area of living, smoking (never, ex, current), alcohol use, physical activity level, height and weight, years of education, meditation, question about health concerns behaviour (“Have you sought help about your memory prior to coming here?” and “How many times have you seen your GP in the past year?”), medications (if any), family history of Alzheimer’s or other form of dementia and medical history (depression/anxiety/cholesterol/diabetes/stroke/TIA/heart disease/other neurological condition/other psychiatric condition/any other medical condition) assessed using a questionnaire at baseline 2. Daily activities (including sleep, eating/drinking habits, exercise, meditation, alcohol use, smoking, mentally stimulating and socially engaging activities) assessed using questionnaires at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months 3. ApoE genotype assessed using DNA analysis from a blood sample taken at baseline | — |
Countries
United Kingdom
Contacts
Public ContactChara Triantafyllou
Outcome results
None listed