Study On Relationship Between Constitution And Mild Cognitive Impairment(MCI), And A One-year Follow-up Study On MCI

BackgroundModern research showed that morbidity of AD has an obvious tendency of rising. AD drew a wide concern of medical field because of its high morbidity, high disability rate and the huge pressure imposed on the society and the families. According to statistics, there are more than 25 million AD patients in the world among them over 5 million are from China. In modern medicine, many studies have made on the neuropathology of senile dementia and many treatment trials were done as well. But no satisfactory drug or medication were found till now. As for AD has no radical measurement, it is very important to find early diagnosis and interfering strategies which can delay and even reverse the development of the disease. But, how to grasp the early and the earlier clinical signs? When and how to implement the interfering strategies? No satisfactory answers were found. As a result, nowadays, the research focus was transferred to the individuals with high risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), wishing to get to know the developing process of the cognition declining gradually. With no definite cause, there is limitation for the treatment of MCI using modern medicine, while Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) have obvious advantages in its prevention and cure. ObjectiveTo preliminarily explore the correlation between the MCI and the TCM constitution types, evaluate the natural process of the cognition functions of normal individuals and MCI patients, and to carry out the follow-up survey to the investigated individuals to study the transformation rate between them, providing evidence for further prospective study. MethodsIt is a cross-sectional study. Based on the review of the correlativereports of MCI and theories of TCM, the observation form of TCM syndromes was compiled and the relevant psychological scales were applied. The included individuals were from the inpatients and outpatients and the retired employees in Guangdong Provincial Hospital of TCM, age ranging between 50 -79 years among them 69 cases in the group of normal cognition function and 63 cases in the group of MCI. Collecting all the information of the included individuals such as general demography data, TCM syndromes, typing form of TCM constitution, MMSE, ADL scores and etc. A one-year case follow-up survey was conducted to 122 cases (65 cases in group of normal cognition function and 57 cases in MCI group). SPSS 11.0 software adopted for statistical analysis. Exploring the natural developing process of the cognition function of the two groups, discussing correlation between the TCM constitution types of the two groups, and analyzing the general course of the MIC to preliminarily explore the relevant factors affecting the cognition functions. Results1. The general analysis the attack of MCI showed that the patients social factors included age, education degree, occupation character and the course of disease;the risk factors of the lowering cognition function were age increasing, physical work, demission or retired before 60 years and long course of the diseases;while the high education degree was the protective factor.2. Comparison of the constitution type between MCI group and Non-MCI group showed significant difference among the individuals with different constitutions namely normal constitution, Yangxu constitution, Qixu constitution and blood stasis constitution(p=0. 000, 0. 035, 0. 030, 0. 040, respetively). Among them, normal cognitive group had a tendency to normal constitution, while MCI group was made up of Yangxu constitution, Qixu constitution and blood stasis constitution.3. The one-year follow-up survey of the 122 cases of MCI patients showed that the original score of MMSE was 27. 41 ±1.94, changed to 26. 58±2. 90 one year later, decreasing 0.8 score.4. In the MCI group, the MMSE score before and after the follow-up survey was 26. 16+1. 67 and 25.11 ±2. 89, respectively, averagely decreasing 1. 05 scores. While in the non-MCI group, the MMSE score before and after the follow-up survey was 28.51 + 1.44 and 27.88+2.23, averagely decreasing 0.58 score.5. After one-year follow-up study , five persons in the MIC group werepreliminarily diagnosed to be AD, with transformation rate of 8.8%. And six persons in the normal cognition group were preliminarily diagnosed to be MCI, with transformation rate of 9.2%. Cone I us i onCompared with the normal cognition group, the cognition function of the individuals in the MCI group was inclined to further decrease with the age increasing. The transformation rates of MCI turning into AD were 8.8% .It pointed out that studying on MCI to helpful to distinguish the individuals with high risk of AD. It is very important to find early diagnosis and interfering strategies which can delay and even reverse the development of AD. The TCM constitution of MCI mostly exhibited to be YANGXU .. QIXU and blood stasis constitution, With no definite cause, there is limitation for the treatment of MCI using modern medicine, while Traditional Chinese Medicine( TCM) have obvious advantages in its prevention and cure.