A telephone survey of around 17,000 older women (average age 74), which included questions about memory lapses plus standard cognitive tests, found that getting lost in familiar neighborhoods was highly associated with cognitive impairment that might indicate Alzheimer’s. Having trouble keeping up with a group conversation and difficulty following instructions were also significantly associated with cognitive impairment. But, as most of us will be relieved to know, forgetting things from one moment to the next was not associated with impairment!

Unsurprisingly, the more memory complaints a woman had, the more likely she was to score poorly on the cognitive test.

The 7 memory lapse questions covered:

• whether they had recently experienced a change in their ability to remember things,
• whether they had trouble remembering a short list of items (such as a shopping list),
• whether they had trouble remembering recent events,
• whether they had trouble remembering things from one second to the next,
• whether they had difficulty following spoken or written instructions,
• whether they had more trouble than usual following a group conversation or TV program due to memory problems,
• whether they had trouble finding their way around familiar streets.

Because this survey was limited to telephone tests, we can’t draw any firm conclusions. But the findings may be helpful for doctors and others, to know which sort of memory complaints should be taken as a flag for further investigation.