What is mild cognitive impairment (MCI)?
Mild cognitive impairment is defined as cognitive dysfunction greater than expected for age and education in either a single cognitive domain or in multiple domains without impairment in activities of daily living (ADLs).
In the new classification of NCDs, memory impairment with preserved nonmemory cognition has been referred to as amnestic mild cognitive impairment, and episodic memory is the most common initially affected type of memory.
Alternately, patients can also present with another area of cognitive dysfunction, including visuospatial, processing speed, verbal ability, attention, and executive function.
Such patients have nonamnestic MCI.
MCI is also viewed as a predementia state as the conversion to dementia is quite high.
Amnestic MCI, for example, is associated with a 10% to 15% per year conversion to AD.
Many researchers view amnestic MCI as the earliest clinical phase of AD, and the utility of distinguishing it from AD has been questioned.
Nonamnestic MCI, on the other hand, has been shown to be associated with other neurodegenerative disorders (FTLD, dementia of Lewy bodies, vascular dementia, etc.).
