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Semantic memory and depressive symptoms in patients with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2017

J. Lehrner Open the ORCID record for J. Lehrner [Opens in a new window] ,
G. Coutinho ,
P. Mattos ,
D. Moser ,
M. Pflüger ,
A. Gleiss ,
E. Auff ,
P. Dal-Bianco ,
G. Pusswald  and
E. Stögmann
J. Lehrner*
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
G. Coutinho
Affiliation:
D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Institute of Biomarker Sciences–Morphological Sciences Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
P. Mattos
Affiliation:
D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Institute of Biomarker Sciences–Morphological Sciences Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
D. Moser
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
M. Pflüger
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
A. Gleiss
Affiliation:
Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics, and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
E. Auff
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
P. Dal-Bianco
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
G. Pusswald
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
E. Stögmann
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Ass. Prof. Priv. Doz. Mag. Dr. J. Lehrner, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, A-1097 Wien, Austria. Phone: 0043-1-40400-31090; Fax: 0043-1-40400-31410. Email: Johann.Lehrner@meduniwien.ac.at.
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Abstract

Background:

Semantic memory may be impaired in clinically recognized states of cognitive impairment. We investigated the relationship between semantic memory and depressive symptoms (DS) in patients with cognitive impairment.

Methods:

323 cognitively healthy controls and 848 patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia were included. Semantic knowledge for famous faces, world capitals, and word vocabulary was investigated.

Results:

Compared to healthy controls, we found a statistically significant difference of semantic knowledge in the MCI groups and the AD group, respectively. Results of the SCD group were mixed. However, two of the three semantic memory measures (world capitals and word vocabulary) showed a significant association with DS.

Conclusions:

We found a difference in semantic memory performance in MCI and AD as well as an association with DS. Results suggest that the difference in semantic memory is due to a storage loss rather than to a retrieval problem.

Keywords

semantic memorydepressive symptomssubjective cognitive declinemild cognitive impairmentdementiaAlzheimer’ disease

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 29 , Issue 7 , July 2017 , pp. 1123 - 1135
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2017 

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