title: Does age at observation time affect the clinical presentation of mild cognitive impairment?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To date, there are no published data investigating the role of age in the clinical and neuropsychological presentation of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The aim of the study was to evaluate whether age at the time of evaluation modulates clinical, functional or cognitive profiles in MCI subjects.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 167 outpatients with a clinical diagnosis of MCI were consecutively enrolled and entered in the study. Clinical and demographic characteristics were carefully recorded. Each patient underwent a wide neuropsychological standardized assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  MCI subjects were divided into 3 groups according to their age at observation time: 58 MCI patients were classified as young (≤ 69 years), 89 as old (70-79 years) and 20 as very old (≥ 80 years). The 3 groups did not differ in demographic characteristics, general cognitive functions and memory impairment. Very old MCI subjects showed a significantly greater impairment than younger MCI patients in cognitive domains involving executive functions. In particular, very old MCI patients were more frequently classified as having multiple-domain amnestic MCI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Present data highlight that the clinical presentation of MCI is affected by age: at presentation, very old MCI subjects show a worse performance than younger MCI subjects on multiple abilities, particularly on executive functions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. barbaravicini@tiscali.it
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vicini-Chilovi
authors.forename: Maddalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riva
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Caratozzolo
authors.forename: Gulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mombelli
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bertoletti
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rozzini
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Padovani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000647:Amnesia / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology