Dementia – Mild Cognitive Impairment
- Generally accepted diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI; also known as mild neurocognitive disorder):
- Concern regarding a change in cognition – doctor, informant, patient
- Impairment in one or more cognitive domains
- Learning and memory, language, executive function, perceptual-motor function, complex attention, and/or social cognition
- On cognitive testing, people with MCI typically score 1 or 1.5 standard deviations below the mean of the normative data
- Preservation of independence in functional abilities
- It can take more time, be less efficient, and make more errors; with minimum aids or assistance
- Lack of dementia
- MCI can improve, stabilize, or progress into dementia.
- 10-20% of people aged 65+ with MCI will develop dementia in 1 year, and 50% over 5 years!
- MCI may progress into Alzheimer’s disease, or it may be related to another etiology of cognitive decline