Worry in older people and how it affects them
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Dementia Worry: Prevalence and Impact on Subjective Cognition in Older Adults Referred for Memory Assessment
IRAS ID
347551
Contact name
Jessica Plumbridge
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford / Research Governance, Ethics & Assurance
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Lots of people worry about getting dementia. Worrying about getting dementia can change how people view their own thinking. For example, someone worried about dementia might think that forgetting something is a sign of dementia, but someone who is not worried about dementia might not think twice about forgetting something. Because of this, we think it might be important for memory clinics to think about how worrying about dementia might affect people who come for dementia assessment.
In the first part of the study, we want to see how many of the people referred to a memory clinic worry a lot about dementia. In the second part, we want to put people into 2 groups (high ‘dementia worry’ and low ‘dementia worry’).
By doing this, we hope to answer some questions:
1. Do people referred to a memory clinic often have higher dementia worry than other people?
2. Do people with high dementia worry feel like they do worse on memory tests?
3. Are people with high dementia worry more likely to think that forgetting things are signs of dementia than people who do not worry about having dementia?REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/SW/0133
Date of REC Opinion
4 Dec 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion