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Subjective Experiences of Decline and Dementia Risk: Cognitive, Functional, and...
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Subjective Experiences of Decline and Dementia Risk: Cognitive, Functional, and Emotional Predictors of Cognitive Decline

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Diagnosis and Prognosis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 229

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Katya Numbers

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), Discipline of Psychiatry & Mental Health, School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine & Health, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2033, Australia
Interests: subjective cognitive decline; dementia risk; cognitive complaints; functional decline; emotional well-being; early diagnosis and intervention

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will explore the association between subjective experiences of decline—cognitive, functional, emotional, and otherwise—and the risk of dementia or cognitive decline in older adults. Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) has gained attention as a potential early marker for dementia, yet the role of subjective complaints extends beyond cognition. Functional limitations, emotional well-being, and other personal perceptions of decline (i.e., self-perceptions of ageing, purpose in life, etc.) may also serve as early indicators of disease progression, warranting further investigation. This Special Issue aims to gather research that explores the predictive power, validity, and practical applications of older adults’ subjective experiences in assessing dementia risk. Contributions may include studies on the diagnostic utility of subjective complaints, approaches to improving predictive models with subjective data, the utility of informant-reported subjective decline, and exploration of barriers in using self-reported complaints across different cohorts. By focusing on these areas, we hope to advance understanding and standardization of subjective complaints as indicators for early intervention.

Dr. Katya Numbers
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • subjective cognitive decline (SCD)
  • dementia risk
  • cognitive complaints
  • functional decline
  • emotional well-being
  • early diagnosis and intervention

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 697 KiB  
Article
Relationships Between Functional Impairment, Depressive Symptoms, and Ageing Attitudes in Older Adults
by Jessica Sawang, Katya Numbers, Ben C. P. Lam and Simone Reppermund
Diagnostics 2025, 15(9), 1145; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics15091145 (registering DOI) - 30 Apr 2025
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Negative attitudes towards ageing, depressive symptoms, and impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) are associated with worse health outcomes in older adults, including increased risk of dementia. Little is known about the longitudinal impact of depressive symptoms and functional [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Negative attitudes towards ageing, depressive symptoms, and impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) are associated with worse health outcomes in older adults, including increased risk of dementia. Little is known about the longitudinal impact of depressive symptoms and functional impairment on ageing attitudes in older people. Identifying the relationships between these risk factors may help inform interventions targeting early dementia. The aim of this study was to determine whether depressive symptoms and functional impairment are associated with ageing attitudes over 6 years. Methods: Participants included 172 community-dwelling adults aged 76–96 years without dementia from the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study who were followed up over 6 years. Multiple linear regression models were used to examine prospective relationships between depressive symptoms, IADL (informant-reported or performance-based) and ageing attitudes. Results: After adjusting for potential confounding variables, more baseline depressive symptoms were associated with more negative ageing attitudes towards physical change (B = −0.10, 95%CI −0.18 to −0.02, p = 0.021) and psychological growth (B = −0.09, 95%CI −0.17 to −0.01, p = 0.037), and worse informant-reported IADL was associated with more negative ageing attitudes towards psychosocial change (B = −0.36, 95%CI −0.64 to −0.09, p = 0.010) over 6 years. Conclusions: The results highlight the importance of assessing and treating depressive symptoms and functional decline in older people, as they are significantly associated with negative attitudes about the ageing process, a known risk factor of worse health outcomes, including dementia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Subjective Experiences of Decline and Dementia Risk: Cognitive, Functional, and Emotional Predictors of Cognitive Decline)
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