The Cognitive Characterization And Outcome Of Mild Cognitive Impairment In The Elderly: A Population-based Follow-up Study

Background: With the rapid increase in life expectancy in the population, Dementia is becoming one of the important healthy problems. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) refers to the transition clinical state between normal aging and dementia or Alzheimer's disease (AD) in which individuals experience memory loss or other cognitive deficit to a greater extent than one would expect for age, yet they do not meet currently accepted criteria for dementia. It's valuable to study the cognitive characterization and natural history of MCI for the early detection and prevention of dementia.Objective: To study the cognitive profile and prognosis of MCI in the natural elderly population and to identify the most accurate clinical and cognitive measures that can predict which individuals with MCI have a high likelihood of converting to AD or vascular dementia (VaD) over time.Methods: The study subjects are derived from an epidemiology investigation in Beijing, China. After the screening phase, 920 subjects of those below the cut-off point and part of those over the cut-off point of MMSE scores are evaluated clinically in detail, including a battery of cognitive evaluations, namely, Fuld Object-Memory Evaluation (FOM), Rapid Verbal Retrieve (RVR), Block Design (BD) and Digit Span (DS). According to the results of the clinical evaluation and the suitable diagnosed or inclusion criteria, all the 920 subjects are classified as four groups, that is, dementia, MCI, cognitive normal and those unclassified. The first three groups are compared for the demographic' and cognitive characteristics, and followed up for 3 years averagely. The conversion rates to dementia,...