Association of Being Accompanied at Medical Consultation and Having Memory Complaints With Cognitive Impairment in Elderly Brazilian Outpatients

Background: The usefulness of both the presence of a companion at the medical consultation and patient's cognitive complaints as selection strategies for performing a dementia evaluation is still unclear. Objectives: To estimate the association of elderly patients being accompanied during medical visits and patient's memory complaint with objective cognitive impairment. Methods: We included elderly outpatients awaiting medical consultations in 3 non-neurological medical specialties. Demographic and Mini-Mental State Examination were collected. Patients' memory complaints were evaluated with a single question to both patients and companions. Results: Five hundred ninety-three elderly patients were included in the study with 64.6% female and median (interquartile range) age 73 (68-78), 4 (2-6) years of education. Of these, 242 patients were accompanied and 62.6% presented memory complaints. The median (interquartile range) Mini-Mental State Examination scores were significantly lower in patients accompanied and in those with memory complaints. In a logistic regression model, age, education, memory complaint, and presence of companion were associated with cognitive impairment. In the model including only accompanied patients, only age and companion memory complaints were associated with objective cognitive impairment. Conclusions: The presence of a companion during a clinical consultation and patients' memory complaints are both synergistically associated with objective cognitive impairment.