Subjective memory complaints in Latin American older adults: Prevalence and risk factors

Caldichoury N.; Morales-Asencio B.; Coronado J.-C.; Ripoll-Córdoba D.; Mendoza-Ruvalcaba N.; Quispe-Ayala C.; Camargo L.; Boza-Calvo C.; Quincho-Apumayta R.; Castellanos C.; Cárdenas J.; García de la Cadena C.; Martínez J.; Florez Y.; Mori N.; Castillo-Tamara E.; Calle U.; Bada W.; Varón C.; Porto M.F.; Ramos-Henderson M.; Miranda-Pacheco J.; Salazar D.; Alcos-Flores K.; Palomino-Torres E.; Ardila-Duarte C.; Patiño-Rivera A.-R.; Gargiulo P.A.; López N. · Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (2026) · DOI: 10.1177/13872877251400666

Resumen

Background: Subjective memory complaints (SMC) are linked to an increased risk of neurocognitive disorders (NCD). Objective: To estimate the prevalence of SMC and their association with sociodemographic and clinical factors in 3285 older adults (OA) from ten Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. Method: This population-based analysis used secondary data from an international multicenter study on NCD prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cognitively healthy participants were identified based on clinical criteria, cognitive assessments, and expert consensus. Participants were categorized as with (WSMC; n = 602) or without SMC (NSMC; n = 2683). Sociodemographic and clinical variables were recorded. Cognitive performance was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment–Short Version (MoCA-T), depressive symptoms with the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), and functional decline with the Eight-Item Informant Interview (AD8). Mean difference analyses and logistic regressions were performed. Results: The regional prevalence of SMC was 18.33%, ranging from 11.59% in Guatemala to 26.30% in Peru. OA with SMC showed lower education, poorer cognitive performance, and higher rates of anxiety, falls, and fractures. Regression models revealed significant associations between SMC and lower education (p < 0.001), emotional distress (p < 0.001), age (p = 0.024), anxiety (p = 0.017), infrequent and occasional falls (p = 0.017; p = 0.002), and fractures (p = 0.028). Conclusions: SMC are prevalent among LAC older adults and are associated with multiple risk factors, highlighting their public health relevance and potential as early indicators of NCD risk. © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Daniel Alcides Carrión; Universidad Nacional de Huancavelica; Universidad Nacional Intercultural de la Amazonia; Universidad Nacional Intercultural de la Selva Central Juan Santos Atahualpa; Universidad Nacional Autónoma Altoandina de Tarma