The prognosis of mild cognitive impairment in the elderly

Purpose: To determine whether or not subtypes of intellectual functioning a re suitable to predict further cognitive decline in individuals with mild c ognitive impairment. Design: naturalistic longitudinal study (mean interval 2.7 years). Patients: 41 subjects with mild cognitive impairment who atten ded a memory clinic. Methods: SIDAM, CT, SPECT, and ApoE genotype. Results: At follow-up, 8 out of 41 patients (19.5%) with MCI had progressed to deme ntia, 8 patients (19.5%) had improved to normal levels of cognitive functio ning, 25 patients (61%) had remained stable within the MCI group. At baseli ne the two prognostic groups differed significantly with regard to age, mem ory functions, orientation, and the degree of atrophy of the left medial te mporal lobe on CT scan. Conclusion: The majority of MCI patients in this st udy remained cognitively stable within the observation period. Patients wit h older age, poorer test performance on memory tasks and orientation defici ts are at higher risk of progressive decline to dementia. CT measures of me dial temporal lobe atrophy may be a sensitive parameter of group discrimina tion.