Background: Subjective memory complaints (SMC) are a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.
Objective: We aimed to explore the association between SMC and regional amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition in mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Methods: Sixty-eight individuals with MCI were recruited. [18F]Florbetaben PET scans were performed. T1-weighted 3D volumes were also acquired for co-registration with PET and for defining the regions of interest (ROI). Two step exploratory partial correlation analyses between SMC and Aβ deposition were performed with covariates of age, sex, education, and depression. Furthermore, for the priori ROI that had the most significant partial correlation, we investigated the correlation between the SMC and regional Aβ burden using a multiple linear regression model controlling for depression, age, sex, and education.
Results: Significant positive correlations between the SMC and Aβ burden was found in the medial temporal ROI (first step) and in the left parahippocampus ROI (second step). In the priori left parahippocampus, we found significant correlation between the SMC and Aβ burden (R2 = 0.473, p = 0.014).
Conclusions: Our study suggested that the SMC was associated with amyloid accumulation, especially in the left parahippocampus, in individuals with MCI.
Keywords: Amyloid burden; mild cognitive impairment; subjective memory complaints.