[Epidemiology of memory disorders]

To study the predictive value of memory complaints resulting in consultation with a GP as to the risk of subsequent dementia, we analysed the data from the follow-up of the Paquid cohort study carried out around Bordeaux. A sample of 1503 elderly people over 65, living at home and non-demented at the baseline screening, was considered. The risk of dementia was measured two and four years after the baseline screening: 60.8 per cent of subjects themselves perceived a memory impairment and 15.6 per cent expressed this complaint to their GP. Forty-eight developed a subsequent dementia. Taking the group without memory complaint as the reference set, three groups of elderly people could be recognized as at high risk of dementia: subjects with self-perceived memory impairment, consulting a GP with low memory performance or with normal memory performances, and subjects with memory complaints not resorting to a GP but with low memory performance. In non-demented elderly people, memory complaints expressed to the GP may be a strong predictor of dementia and should not be neglected.