RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Research on the associated factors of subjective memory impairment(SMI) has reported conflicting findings. This study aimed to investigate the associations of SMI with objective cognitive function, depression, and various socio-demographic characteristics and to measure possible differences in cognitively impaired and intact elderly peoples. METHODS: A community study of individuals aged 65 or over was conducted in Kwangju, South Korea. SMI was assessed by means of asking a single item question and its associations with cognitive function(Korean version of Mini-Mental State Examination; MMSE-K), depression(Korean form of Geriatric Depression Scale), and socio-demographic factors were investigated. In addition, analyses were repeated for the cognitively impaired and intact samples separately. RESULTS: Of 1,134 participants, 596(53%) were categorized as having SMI. Depression, lower score on MMSE-K, and past manual occupation were significantly associated with SMI. Further analyses for cognitively impaired and intact samples showed some different results. For the cognitively impaired sample(n=412), SMI was significantly associated with depression and past manual occupation. For the cognitively intact sample(n=722), depression, lower score on MMSE-K, and male gender were significantly associated factors. CONCLUSION: Depression was consistently associated with SMI regardless of cognitive status. Other than depression, associated factor profiles differed between cognitively impaired and intact older populations.