Memory impairment, in mild cognitive impairment without significant cerebrovascular disease, predicts progression to Alzheimer's disease.
OBJECTIVE
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) usually represents a transitional phase between normal cognitive function and dementia, but not all people with MCI develop dementia because MCI is a clinically and etiologically heterogeneous grouping. The aim of this study was to compare progression rates to Alzheimer's disease (AD) among various MCI subtypes which show minimal white matter ischemia.


METHODS
Our study cohort consisted of 504 patients aged 55 years or older who had a diagnosis of MCI at their baseline visit, and had at least 1 follow-up contact after baseline.


RESULTS
Subjects with multiple-domain MCI with amnesia (mdMCI+a) were found to be significantly more likely to progress to AD in comparison to patients with nonamnesic MCI. There was no difference in the progression rate to AD between amnesic MCI and mdMCI+a during the follow-up period. The results of the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model analysis showed the same pattern of results as described above.


CONCLUSIONS
Subjects with mdMCI+a had a statistically significant association with progression to AD. Especially, in cases of degenerative etiologies, impairment of the memory domain is more important than impairment of multiple domains in predicting the progression to dementia.
Department of Psychiatry, Busan National University Hospital, Busan, South Korea.
Young Min
YM
Lee
Je Min
JM
Park
Byung Dae
BD
Lee
Eunsoo
E
Moon
Young In
YI
Chung
Cheol Joong
CJ
Kang
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D056910:Republic of Korea