Mild cognitive impairment
| Mild cognitive impairment | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Incipient dementia, isolated memory impairment, mild neurocognitive disorder |
| Specialty | Neurology |
| Symptoms | Can include memory impairments (amnestic) or cognitive problems like impaired decision making, language, or visuospatial skills (non-amnestic) |
| Usual onset | Typically appears in adults 65 or older |
| Types | Amnestic, non-amnestic |
| Risk factors | Age, family history, cardiovascular disease |
| Diagnostic method | Based on symptoms assessed by a clinical neuropsychologist through observations, neuroimaging, and blood tests |
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a diagnosis that reflects an intermediate stage of cognitive impairment that is often, but not always, a transitional phase from cognitive changes in normal aging to those typically found in dementia, especially dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (Alzheimer's dementia). MCI may include both memory and non-memory neurocognitive impairments. About 50 percent of people diagnosed with MCI have Alzheimer's disease and go on to develop Alzheimer's dementia within five years. MCI can also serve as an early indicator for other types of dementia, although MCI may also remain stable or remit. Many definitions of MCI exist. A common feature of many of these is that MCI involves cognitive impairments that are measurable but that are not significant enough to interfere with instrumental activities of daily living.
The DSM-5 introduces the concept of mild neurocognitive disorder (mNCD), which is designed to be largely equivalent to MCI. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) refers to MCI as "Mild Neurocognitive Disorder (MND)". It is controversial whether MCI should be used as a diagnosis.
The definition of MCI continues to evolve. Academic discussion revolves around whether MCI should be classified or diagnosed algorithmically or clinically, the reliability of clinical judgment, stability of the diagnosis over time, and the utility or predictivity of biomarkers. Differences in the definition and implementation of the MCI construct can explain some discrepancies between research studies.