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Memory Loss Syndrome is Distinct from Alzheimer's

© Karen Largent

Here is a wonderful article I found about Mild Cognitive Impairment, which can be a separate problem from AD. I will be providing copies of more articles like this over the next few weeks. I hope you find them informative and interesting, as I search for what I think will appeal to you the reader.

NEW YORK, Mar 15 (Reuters Health) -- There appears to be a group of elderly people who suffer from memory loss, yet are distinct from those in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. And a new study launched on Monday by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) is targeting such individuals to see if certain drugs can slow their memory loss.

These people -- who can be differentiated from Alzheimer's patients with a battery of mental status tests -- have a condition known as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), according to a report in the March issue of the Archives of Neurology.

The condition is more severe than merely forgetting a person's name or losing the car keys, according to Dr. Neil Buckholtz, chief of the Dementias of Aging branch at the NIA in Bethesda, Maryland. In the 10-year study of more than 400 people, which was conducted by Dr. Ronald Petersen and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, those with mild cognitive impairment had problems solely with their memory.

In contrast, Alzheimer's patients also had problems in other areas, such as communication problems. Buckholtz described the patients with MCI in an interview with Reuters Health. "They were read a paragraph and 30 minutes later were asked to provide the details of the story from the paragraph," he said. "They were much worse than normal and closer to the people with Alzheimer's disease, so they have a specific memory problem, but no problems with other cognitive domains," such as language, judgment, and a variety of different kinds of communication abilities, said Buckholtz.

While an individual with Alzheimer's disease would score poorly on tests of such abilities, a person with MCI would more closely resemble their healthy peers. Those with mild cognitive impairment have a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, but they may not go on to develop full-blown dementia, according to the report. But MCI patients do appear to have a greater than average risk of developing Alzheimer's. About 12% of those with mild cognitive impairment develop Alzheimer's disease each year compared with just 1% of healthy people over age 65.