title: Quality of life in patients with mild cognitive impairment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Quality of life (QoL) is affected in patients with dementia, but it is not clear whether it is already disturbed in more initial phases of cognitive decline, like Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Compare the QoL in MCI patients with controls without cognitive impairment, and ascertain whether there are differences in the reports of QoL made by the subjects and by their informants.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred participants were enrolled, divided into MCI patients (n = 50), MCI informants (n = 50), recruited from a memory clinic and a dementia outpatient clinic, and controls (n = 50) and controls informants (n = 50), recruited in a family practice clinic. QoL was assessed with the QoL in Alzheimer disease (QOL-AD) scale.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total scores of the QOL-AD questionnaire were 32.1 ± 6.9 for MCI patients self-report, 27.2 ± 6.7 for MCI patients in the opinion of their informants, 35.3 ± 4.9 for controls self-report and 35.6 ± 4.9 for controls in the opinion of their informants. MCI patients had lower QOL-AD scores than controls. The QoL reported by patients with MCI was more favorable than the opinion of their informants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The QoL is affected at early stages of cognitive decline. The QoL reported by patients with MCI is better than the opinion of their informants, similarly to what is known in Alzheimer's disease patients. QoL appears to be an important domain to be evaluated in aging studies.
authors.affiliation: Dementia Group, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bárrios
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Narciso
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guerreiro
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maroco
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Logsdon
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Mendonça
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires