title: Attitudes of UK psychiatrists to the diagnosis of MCI in clinical practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may represent a transitional stage between normal functioning and dementia. Following the initial criteria developed by Petersen et al. in 1999, which focused on memory deficit in the context of otherwise normal cognition and general functioning, the concept has evolved with the introduction of subtypes of MCI and improved understanding of etiology. Our aim was to investigate current practice as well as familiarity with and attitudes toward the concept of MCI amongst UK old age psychiatrists.
  
  
  METHODS
  We sent an anonymized postal survey to all clinicians on the Royal College of Psychiatrists Old Age Psychiatry register. Questions covered attitudes toward the concept of MCI in addition to diagnostic criteria and assessment tools used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 39% (453 of 1,154 questionnaires returned completed). The majority of respondents were consultants (83%) and 91% diagnosed MCI. Only 4.4% of the respondents thought that the concept of MCI was not useful and 79% of them required a memory complaint from either the patient or an informant for a diagnosis, but the majority did not have a specific cut-off on cognitive testing. Eighty-two percent reported that they required no or minimal impairment in activities of daily living for a diagnosis of MCI. The two most frequently used tools for assessment were the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our survey shows that in the United Kingdom, the term MCI has become part of everyday clinical practice in psychiatry, suggesting that clinicians find it a useful term to conceptualize the transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. However, there is variability in diagnostic practice.
authors.affiliation: University College London, London, UK. joanne.rodda@nelft.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rodda
authors.forename: Santhosh Dontham
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Gandhi
authors.forename: Naaheed
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mukadam
authors.forename: Zuzana
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D035041:Anonymous Testing / Q000379:methods; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D016743:Mental Competency; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom