I am an honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for Innovative Ageing at Swansea University.
My research is a blended multi-disciplinary approach, thus a neuropsychological approach equally weighted with a gerontological consideration to health and social care, ageing, cognitive decline, and dementia. The translational value of my research to clinical practice is of considerable importance. |
Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD)
The focus of my research is on subjective cognitive decline (SCD). An individual is described as having SCD when they express concerns about cognitive difficulties but no objective abnormality can be identified in formal testing. It could be the case that current standardised diagnostic neuropsychological measures are relatively insensitive to the more subtle changes in cognition characterising SCD. For some individuals SCD could be deemed a normal ageing response with changes regarded as ‘senior moments’ (Desai and Schwarz, 2011). Furthermore, SCD appears to be aetiologically heterogeneous, thus it could be caused by for instance a medical condition, medication, the menopause, psychiatric illness, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances etc... (Jessen et al., 2014). However, SCD is increasingly recognised as a risk factor for dementia (Reisberg et al., 2010) thus for a proportion of individuals SCD may be the expression of the very early stages of the pathological neurodegenerative AD pathway, therefore SCD clearly warrants further investigation. However, a barrier to progress in the characterisation of SCD and in the determination of its relationship to ageing and dementia, is the current lack of understanding of SCD as a specific concept. For example, there is a lack of commonality regarding terminology, with the following in common and interchangeable use: subjective cognitive decline (SCD), subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), subjective memory complaints (SMC), subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) (Jessen et al., 2014). Jessen and colleagues (Jessen et al., 2014) suggested the term subjective cognitive 'decline' (SCD) is most appropriate when referring to subjective complaints as a potential indicator of neurodegenerative decline. As a result of such clinical and research disparity, the Subjective Cognitive Decline Initiative (SCD-I) has been formed to help develop a common research framework for characterising SCD (Jessen et al., 2014). It is also recognised that SCD needs to be further investigated and further characterised in order to understand its signs symptoms.
The focus of my research is on subjective cognitive decline (SCD). An individual is described as having SCD when they express concerns about cognitive difficulties but no objective abnormality can be identified in formal testing. It could be the case that current standardised diagnostic neuropsychological measures are relatively insensitive to the more subtle changes in cognition characterising SCD. For some individuals SCD could be deemed a normal ageing response with changes regarded as ‘senior moments’ (Desai and Schwarz, 2011). Furthermore, SCD appears to be aetiologically heterogeneous, thus it could be caused by for instance a medical condition, medication, the menopause, psychiatric illness, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances etc... (Jessen et al., 2014). However, SCD is increasingly recognised as a risk factor for dementia (Reisberg et al., 2010) thus for a proportion of individuals SCD may be the expression of the very early stages of the pathological neurodegenerative AD pathway, therefore SCD clearly warrants further investigation. However, a barrier to progress in the characterisation of SCD and in the determination of its relationship to ageing and dementia, is the current lack of understanding of SCD as a specific concept. For example, there is a lack of commonality regarding terminology, with the following in common and interchangeable use: subjective cognitive decline (SCD), subjective cognitive impairment (SCI), subjective memory complaints (SMC), subjective cognitive complaints (SCC) (Jessen et al., 2014). Jessen and colleagues (Jessen et al., 2014) suggested the term subjective cognitive 'decline' (SCD) is most appropriate when referring to subjective complaints as a potential indicator of neurodegenerative decline. As a result of such clinical and research disparity, the Subjective Cognitive Decline Initiative (SCD-I) has been formed to help develop a common research framework for characterising SCD (Jessen et al., 2014). It is also recognised that SCD needs to be further investigated and further characterised in order to understand its signs symptoms.
Between pages 10-13 in the below document (Generations Review) you will find further information about my research: