Back in medical school, I remember a professor teaching us older patients tend to overreport memory problems and don’t really have much insight into the true status of their memory ability.

Now, a recent study published in the journal Neurology indicates that this may not be true.

The study looked at 40 people over the age of 60 who complained of memory problems but still had normal performance on detailed neuropsychological testing (i.e. cognitive and memory testing). Interestingly, the researchers found these patients actually had a significant reduction in brain gray matter in several regions:

• Bilateral hippocampal areas (the hippocampus is critical for memory function)
• Bilateral frontal regions
• Several other cortical and subcortical regions

In addition to enhancing the credibility of a patient’s insight when it comes to memory function, this study also raises another very important issue: Detailed memory tests may not be very sensitive at picking up organic memory impairment

Reference: Older adults with cognitive complaints show brain atrophy similar to that of amnestic MCI. NEUROLOGY 2006;67:834-842

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