Metamemory and self-perceived health in mild cognitive impairment

Age-related changes in memory have been repeatedly conceptualized. The rela tionship between metamemory appraisal and self-perceived health has not bee n frequently investigated to date. The present study addresses this topic i n a sample of 90 subjects (23 males, 67 females) fulfilling the criteria of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), mean age of 67.6 +/- 5.9 years, mean scho oling of 8 years. The following metamemory indices were applied: (i) Memory complaint questionnaire (MAC-Q), a 6-item questionnaire designed to detect metamemory disturbances in aging. In this study only the last item pertain ing to overall appraisal of memory functioning was taken into account. (ii) Sehulster scale: self-rating of one's beliefs on memory functioning as exp ressed by 60 statements; three components can be identified: comparisons wi th past functioning (set 1), memory loss and mistakes (set 2) and compariso n with peers (seta). (iii) Self-perceived health: SF-36, exploring 8 domain s. The objective memory performance was studied with the Randt memory test (RMT). In our sample, the single MAC-Q question did not show any relationsh ip with objective test scores, whereas a significant correlation and a near ly significant correlation was found with Sehulster scale Set 1 and Set 2 s cores, respectively. A higher level of correlation was found between MAC-Q and total SF-36 scores. Six out of 8 domains of SF-36 were significantly co rrelated with the MAC-Q item. The significant correlation between subjectiv e memory functioning and selected health attributes agrees with previous re search. Some of them are germane to cognition and others related to biologi cal life interfering directly or indirectly with memory. A single metamemor y item, assessing a change in memory functioning over time, seems to provid e reliable information.