Running Head: MEMORY COMPLAINTS MAY INDICATE GREATER DEMENTIA RISK

Memory Complaints May Indicate Greater Dementia Risk

Research Assessment #5
Sriharika Gottipolu
Independence High School
October 29, 2015


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Abstract
This article was about memory issues and dementia. According to a study published in the
Neurology
journal, older women who complain about memory problems may be at a greater risk
for dementia 20 years later (Whiteman 1). This was a considerably longer study conducted on
1,107 women age 65 and older with no signs of dementia at baseline (Whiteman 2). They were
required to only answer a simple question over the time that this study was being
conducted.The question was, Do you feel you have more problems with memory than most?
(Whiteman 2). Over this period of time, the women who had memory complaints were at a 70%
greater risk of being diagnosed with dementia two decades later. The researchers believe that
doctors should pay closer attention to any older adults complaining about memory problems
because could potentially mean something more serious. Researchers, however, only did the
study on women who were of European-American descent. They hope to conduct more studies
on other demographics so that they draw more conclusions and implement the results in the
clinical area.


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Memory Complaints May Indicate Greater Dementia Risk

What I learned
After conducting more research interviews, I discovered dementia came up frequently.
So I decided to look into it. What I found was very different from other research I have done.
While I did know that dementia is associated with memory loss, I did not know that dementia
can show early signs at younger ages. It was interesting to see the numbers, and look at how
much of an impact early memory problems can have on patients. According to the article, only
8% complained about memory problems prior to the beginning of the research, but after the
research study concluded, more than 70% showed signs of memory issues(Whiteman 2). Prior
to looking at these results, I did not realize just how much dementia affected the older
population, and it was surprising to see that the majority of women do infact suffer from it.

Relevance
I feel that this is a very important aspect of Neurology. Usually when I was looking for
research articles, I would always look for something that was out of the ordinary, something
that not much research was conducted on. This time, I took a different approach and looked at a
very common memory disorder in Neurology. I think it is very important to also pay attention to
the more normal conditions of Neurology because on a daily basis, that is what most doctors will
see. By learning about this, I will be able to have some of the fundamental knowledge necessary
when I shadow my mentor, and conduct research for my original work. As a potential
Neurologist, seeing this cases will prepare me better for the daily cases that a Neurologist sees.


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Relation to other things

Since I took a completely different approach when looking for my research article, this
information does not have much in common with the other research articles I have looked at.
However, many Neurologists that I have conducted research interviews with, always mentioned
dementia as something they treat on a regular basis. They all told me that it has to do with
memory problems in the older population. This research information supports what the doctors
have told me. It gave me more insight about dementia, and how it impacts the older population. I
personally have not met anyone with dementia, but I believe this information will help me when
I have future mentor visits because I will get the opportunity to see patients with this disorder.

Reaction to this information

When I first looked at this article, it came as a shock to me. I simply could not believe the
amount of people in America who end up being diagnosed with dementia. But it has also made
me more determined because in the future, I want to be able to reduce the amount of people
being diagnosed with it. I want to be a part of the medical technology revolution. Hopefully, by
the time that I become a doctor, I will have the ability to treat patients with numerous disorders
and cure them with the new medications that will be available.

Questions
While reading this article, I encountered a number of questions. I want to know how
researchers decided on this particular demographic group, and how they kept track of all of the
peoples responses over the course of two decades. I also want to know how they kept the


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patients responses on a certain scale. Especially when it comes to these types of scenarios,
there is a lot of subjectivity present because each patient is different from one another.
Basically, I am wondering how they were able to standardize the patients responses. Hopefully, I
can find similar studies about dementia so that I can compare these results with other results.


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References
Whiteman, H. (2015). Memory complaints may indicate greater dementia risk decades later.
Retrieved October 29, 2015.