What to do about forgetfulness and cognitive impairment in the elderly

  Benign senile amnesia i.e. age-related memory impairment. It refers to the physiological memory loss that comes with aging in the elderly and without clinical manifestations of dementia, which is a normal or physiological non-progressive brain aging process. This memory disorder is characterized by difficulty in accurately recalling certain details of events, and in remembering names of people and places. Although sometimes it is forgotten, it can be recalled after a while, or sometimes it is possible to recall the forgotten relevant episodes while forgetting certain secondary contents. The ability to perform daily life or social activities is normal. This is a reflection of the natural order of things.  Mild cognitive impairment is a state of clinical cognitive impairment between normal aging and Alzheimer’s disease. It is characterized by the patient’s own complaints of memory impairment confirmed by an informed person and may be accompanied by other cognitive impairments (e.g., attention, visuospatial structure, word fluency, executive function, etc.), but socio-occupational or daily living functions are not affected.  Relationship to Alzheimer’s disease: on average, 10-15% of MCI patients convert to Alzheimer’s disease each year; after 3 years, it can reach 50%; after 6 years, about 80%.