As we age, many people feel that their memory is fading, they often lose things and forget things, but both they and their families think that this is just a normal aging process and that they are “old and confused”. In fact, this state of cognitive impairment between normal aging and mild dementia is called mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is a group of clinical symptoms in which the patient’s cognitive impairment is mild and does not reach the level of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and the ability to perform daily living is not impaired. However, the risk of MCI progressing to Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, or other dementias is higher than in the normal elderly population. There are several subtypes of MCI, including amnestic, non-amnestic and multi-cognitive impairment, with amnestic MCI being the most common. It is important to note that MCI is relatively reversible, and it is reported that 20% to 25% of MCI eventually reverses to normal cognitive function. Therefore, the academic significance and socioeconomic benefits of early detection of MCI and timely and appropriate interventions are immeasurable. Memory loss is the main and most common clinical manifestation of MCI, especially near-matter memory loss, which is characterized by “losing things”, “forgetting everything”, “asking the same question over and over again”, and “learning new things”. MCI may have mild impairments in attention, visual-spatial structure, verbal fluency, executive function and other cognitive functions, such as inability to focus on something for a long period of time and easy disorientation; copying two- or three-dimensional figures, Chinese character transcription, verbal expression, comprehension, naming, repetition, and narration. The ability to understand, name, retell, and use the language is reduced; the orientation to the familiar environment is reduced; the ability to find and solve problems, and the ability to perform tasks may be reduced to varying degrees. In addition, affective disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and irritability, may also be present. The degree of hippocampal atrophy may indicate the progression of the disease. The more pronounced the hippocampal atrophy, the greater the likelihood of developing dementia. 2. Risk factors for mild cognitive impairment Understanding the risk factors for MCI can help to intervene early and slow down or stop the progression of the disease. Numerous studies have shown that advanced age, low education, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, diabetes, transient ischemic attack (TIA), smoking and alcohol consumption, and Apo E ε4 allele polymorphism are risk factors that contribute to and exacerbate MCI. In addition, depressive states, anemia, and sleep apnea syndrome are also risk factors for the development of MCI. 3. Early detection of patients with mild cognitive impairment Early identification of MCI can be noted in the following six aspects of life: (1) Subjective and objective basis: Both normal elderly and MCI have complaints of poor memory, but MCI has obvious objective evidence, such as confirmation from family members and neuropsychological measurements, while normal people lack objective evidence. (2) Severity of impact on daily life: normal people do not affect or occasionally affect daily life, while MCI significantly affects daily life, and this can be confirmed by family members. (3) Partial and full cognitive impairment: Normal elderly people have only memory loss, while MCI involves cognitive deficits other than memory. (4) Emotional reactions: Normal elderly people have significant anxiety and nervousness about memory loss and have a “fear of dementia” syndrome, while MCI people have less such emotions. (5) Speed of progress: Normal elderly people have non-progressive memory loss and maintain the status quo after many years, while MCI is progressive and without intervention, most of them become more and more severe and even dementia. Foreign data show that 80% of MCI develops into dementia after 6 years, so it can be roughly determined as normal aging with no progression in 4-5 years. (6) Objective indications: those with risk factors for dementia, short disease duration, genetic history, neuroimaging, neuropsychological examination, etc. can tend to be identified as MCI. 4. Intervention for mild cognitive impairment MCI can slow down the progression of dementia if timely intervention is made. Current interventions for the disease include the following: (1) Non-specific interventions: assessment of risk factors, management of controllable risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, depression, etc. Active control of risk factors is an intervention that has been widely proven to be effective. (2) Lifestyle changes: Start with appropriate exercise. Appropriate exercise can produce neuroprotective substances and increase blood circulation to the brain, which can prevent mild cognitive impairment. For people who have mild cognitive impairment, participation in intense exercise can alleviate the condition without side effects. The second is a reasonable diet and balanced nutrition. Seniors can eat foods that help improve memory, such as vegetables (cabbage, asparagus, peppers, carrots, spinach, purple cauliflower, potatoes, and white radish, etc.) and fruits (such as apricots, bananas, pineapples, grapes, lemons, mandarins, grapefruit, etc.). Because the human body, such as the lack of unsaturated fatty acids, memory, thinking ability is difficult to be in a normal state, so you can often eat fish food rich in unsaturated fatty acids, in addition to brain function, memory strength and brain content of acetylcholine is closely related, eggs and lean meat contains more choline. Acetylcholinesterase can degrade the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and cause dementia, often drinking tea is conducive to inhibit the activity of the enzyme, thus helping to improve cognitive function. Finally, a positive and optimistic attitude to improve brain function also has an important role. Emotionally optimistic people think, let go, not pessimistic, not disappointed, carefree, psychological balance, which can fully regulate the immune, neurological, endocrine, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system functions, enhance memory. (3) Cognitive training: Research shows that the use of memory strengthening training (including memory loss education, relaxation training, memory skills training and cognitive reconstruction) can significantly improve the memory function of mild cognitive impairment. In daily life, you can use your brain to learn more, such as reading books and newspapers, playing chess, watching TV and talking with people, which can help maintain and enhance memory function and intelligence. (4) Pharmacological intervention: At present, the therapeutic drugs of MCI are all effective for Alzheimer’s disease, including cholinesterase inhibitors, including stilbestrol (Shuangyiping), donepezil (Anlishen), carboplatin bicarbonate (Esnen), galantamine (Liyiping), etc.; excitatory amino acid receptor antagonist memantine (Ebselen); calcium channel blockers such as nimodipine; pro-neuronal cell metabolism These drugs should be prescribed under medical supervision. All of these drugs should be used under the guidance of a doctor.