Mild cognitive impairment

  Mild cognitive impairment is a critical state between normal aging and dementia, characterized by the patient’s age-appropriate memory loss and mild impairment of other cognitive functions, but daily life is not affected and does not meet the diagnostic criteria for dementia.  In daily life, the elderly can remember past events clearly, but cannot remember new events. They usually “forget everything they say”, “can’t find where they put things”, “can’t call the names of acquaintances”, “can’t remember their home If this happens every day or more than 4~5 times a week, it should be considered as a pathological condition and the chance of developing dementia is several times higher than normal elderly.  Cognitive impairment mainly includes: 1. memory impairment (often considered as early symptoms) such as: memory of recent events, memory of personal experiences, memory impairment of major events in life; 2. orientation impairment, including difficulty in distinguishing time, place and people; 3. language impairment, including difficulty in finding words, reading, writing and comprehension; 4. impaired visuospatial ability; 5. decreased calculation power; 6. judgment and problem solving Decreased judgment and problem-solving skills.  Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are at increased risk of developing dementia, and preventive interventions are necessary. Studies have found that about 10-30% of patients with MCI develop dementia each year, and 2/3 of patients with dementia develop MCI, while only 1%-2% of normal older adults develop dementia each year.  The impact of MCI on daily life is often not obvious and can be easily ignored. By the time the patient and family are aware of the abnormality, the dementia is often mild to moderate. Dementia is closely related to cerebral infarction, cerebral white matter osteoporosis, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, age, smoking, alcoholism, and low education level. Therefore, elderly people with memory impairment and the above-mentioned diseases should go to the hospital for early intervention and treatment by undergoing cranial MRI, EEG, neuropsychological tests and other related examinations to prevent and delay the development of dementia.