About 10 to 15 percent of adults age 65 and older are believed to have mild cognitive impairment — a condition commonly characterized by memory problems, well beyond those associated with normal aging.
Alarmingly, mild cognitive impairment, or M.C.I., can signal serious problems ahead: About half of people with this condition go on to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia within five years.
Yet when researchers from the University of Toronto searched worldwide for programs that educate people about M.C.I. and how to adapt to it, they found only five — three in Canada, one in Germany and one in Rochester, Minn., home to the Mayo Clinic, which first defined M.C.I. in 1999. Similarly, a North American search for support groups for people with M.C.I. turned up just a handful.
The University of Toronto researchers set out to rectify this lack of attention by writing “Living With Mild Cognitive Impairment,” published recently by Oxford University Press. One of its authors, Nicole Anderson, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, spoke with me at length, and our conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Q.
There’s some confusion about mild cognitive impairment. Is it the earliest stage of dementia or something else?
A.
Most often, it is the earliest, preclinical stage of dementia. That means symptoms are not severe enough to meet the criteria for dementia. But pathology is developing in the brain that will likely lead to dementia.
Sometimes, however, people have other health problems that lead to an M.C.I. diagnosis, and once these are treated their cognition improves.
Q.
What cognitive functions are affected by M.C.I.?
A.
The most typical one is memory. Also common are subtle language difficulties and executive functioning deficits. This refers to an ability to multitask, switch back and forth between two tasks, or inhibit irrelevant information and stay focused on what’s important.
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