Faculty Articles

Cognitive Profiles In Alzheimer’s Disease and In Mild Cognitive Impairment Of Different Etiologies

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2006

Publication Title

Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders

Volume

21

Issue/Number

5-6

First Page

309

ISSN

1420-8008

Last Page

315

Abstract/Excerpt

There has been increasing interest in determining whether amnestic, nonamnestic and multiple-domain subtypes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) reflect different disease etiologies. In this study, we examined the extent to which cognitive profiles of nondemented patients with MCI diagnosed with prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD) differed from those MCI patients diagnosed with vascular disease. We also compared these diagnostic groups to mildly demented patients diagnosed with AD and normal elderly controls. Results indicate that a majority of both MCI-AD and MCI-vascular patients experienced amnestic features and that multiple-domain was the most common presentation. MCI-AD and MCI-vascular groups did not differ on neuropsychological measures tapping memory, language, visuospatial skills/praxis or executive function. Further both MCI groups could be distinguished from dementia patients with regards to performance on measures of memory but not on non-memory measures. Considerable variability was observed in the degree of memory impairment among MCI patients with scores as much as 6 standard deviations below expected mean values. MCI-AD and MCI-vascular patients frequently exhibit both common and overlapping amnestic and nonamnestic features. The implication of these findings for future clinical research is discussed.

DOI

10.1159/000091522

Peer Reviewed

Find in your library

Share

COinS