Affiliation: Department of Cognitive Disorders and Old Age Psychiatry and DZNE, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
Friday 9th of May 9.00-9.45
Aula Magna
“Subjective cognitive decline in aging and in Alzheimer’s disease“
Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) is a research concept capturing the concerns of elderly individuals regarding their diminishing cognitive abilities. While such concerns are rather frequent, related to affective symptoms, and not necessarily reflect objective decline, SCD is associated with a higher risk of developing dementia, often caused by Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Some features of SCD, including onset, consistency, worries and help-seeking, increase the predictive validity of SCD. After addressing the definition and measurement of SCD, I will summarize what we know today about the temporal association of SCD with preceding and subsequent memory decline, and with neurobiological mechanisms. In particular, I will review how SCD emerges in the early, preclinical stage of AD, which can now be well characterized by in-vivo biomarkers of amyloid and tau pathology. Elderly subjects, despite such AD pathology, may never develop AD dementia during their lifetime, which is why biomarker screening for AD in fully asymptomatic individuals is advised against. However, those who also have SCD often show subtle objective deficits or problems with everyday activities noticed by others, and progress more likely and more rapidly towards Mild Cognitive Impairment and dementia. As robust blood-based AD biomarkers and disease-modifying treatments for AD will become available, SCD could indicate a clinical window for the early detection and treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease.