A 2-3 hour interview may be able to predict dementia risk over a 15-year period. The corresponding study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
For the study, the researchers analyzed healthcare data from 12, 749 participants aged 50 and older. At baseline in 2006, all participants underwent 2-3 hour interviews to assess their cognition. Interviews were conducted by trained research assistants who rated participants with a score of 1-5 according to the question: "How much difficulty did the respondent have remembering things you asked him or her about?". A score of 1 indicated no difficulty, and a score of 5 indicated complete inability.
Whereas all participants scored within the normal range of cognitive function in the first interview, results began to vary during follow-up assessments between 2008 and 2020.
Ultimately, the researchers found that each 1-point increase in interview score was linked to a 40% increase in risk for developing dementia during the follow-up period. This link remained after accounting for potentially confounding factors such as depression or poor hearing. In-person interviews and those over the phone yielded the same results.
The researchers noted that the link was even stronger for those who scored highest in an objective memory test involving remembering a long list of words, and subjective memory evaluations- how well someone perceives their own memory to be. Both of these methods have been useful for detecting memory problems preceding a dementia diagnosis.
"This simple rating by an interviewer is predictive of who develops dementia, particularly when traditional measures of memory function do not necessarily detect memory deficits," said research author Angelina Sutin, Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine at Florida State University, in a press release.
"And the association is similar across age, sex, race, ethnicity and education, which suggests it may be broadly predictive across populations. Overall, we believe these findings show that interviewer-rated memory was a good marker of future dementia among the most cognitively healthy," she added.
The researchers concluded that interview-based memory assessments might be useful as a low-cost supplement to existing neuropsychological evaluations, including self-reports and objective testing, for assessing dementia risk.
Sources: Science Daily, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease