title: Including persistency of impairment in mild cognitive impairment classification enhances prediction of 5-year decline.
abstract: Although older adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) show elevated rates of conversion to dementia as a group, heterogeneity of outcomes is common at the individual level. Using data from a prospective 5-year longitudinal investigation of cognitive change in healthy older adults (N = 262, aged 64-92 years), this study addressed limitations in contemporary MCI identification procedures which rely on single occasion assessment ("Single-Assessment [SA] MCI") by evaluating an alternate operational definition of MCI requiring evidence of persistent cognitive impairment over multiple-testing sessions ("Multiple-Assessment [MA] MCI"). As hypothesized, prevalence of SA-MCI exceeded that of MA-MCI. Further, the MA-MCI groups showed lower baseline cognitive and functional performance and steeper cognitive decline compared with Control and SA-MCI group. Results are discussed with reference to retest effects and clinical implications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. susan.vanderhill@aya.yale.edu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vandermorris
authors.forename: David F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Hultsch
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Stuart W S
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.forename: Esther
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Strauss
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index