Differential Patterns of Cognitive Complaints in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Subjective Cognitive Decline in Individuals Born in Canada or Abroad
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) play an important role in diagnosing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but their utility in differentiating MCI and normal aging remains unclear. Moreover, the impact of cultural factors on SCCs has largely been overlooked. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to explore whether certain SCCs more strongly predict MCI or intact cognitive functioning and whether these effects differ for individuals born in Canada compared to those born abroad. METHOD: The current retrospective study examined older adults (aged 60-94) referred to a tertiary memory clinic in Toronto, Canada, who were given a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Participants either met criteria for MCI (n = 74) or had SCCs but intact cognition, meeting research criteria for subjective cognitive decline (SCD; n = 60). Participants were also classified by birthplace (Canada: n = 66; abroad: n = 68). SCCs were assessed using the Abilities subscale of the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ), a 20-item self-report measure that examines self-perception of memory abilities in daily life. RESULT: The overall frequency of SCCs (i.e., total MMQ score) did not differ significantly by clinical group (MCI or SCD) or birthplace (Canada or abroad). Logistic regression analyses based on individual MMQ items revealed several questions that predicted clinical group classification or birthplace. In general, SCCs regarding prospective memory were more frequent in patients born in Canada vs. those born abroad. Within groups, SCCs of memory loss for well-learned semantic information differentiated SCD vs. MCI for individuals born in Canada. No SCCs differentiated SCD vs. MCI in those born abroad. CONCLUSION: Summary scores of SCCs are not strongly associated with objective cognitive functioning: However, certain SCCs were more frequent in patients born in Canada vs. abroad, and specific cognitive complaints significantly differentiated clinical groups as a function of birthplace (i.e., long-term memory complaints predicting MCI in Canada-born individuals only). These findings demonstrate the need to refine SCC measures to optimize clinical utility, and also underscore the importance of considering cultural factors (i.e., birthplace) and how they may impact clinical presentation when assessing for cognitive decline in older adults.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".