What is mild cognitive impairment

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a term used to describe a condition involving problems with cognitive function (their mental abilities such as thinking, knowing and remembering). People with mild cognitive impairment often have difficulties with day-to-day memory but such problems are not bad enough to be defined as dementia.

What is mild cognitive impairment

It is describes a set of symptoms rather than a specific medical condition or disease. A person with mild cognitive impairment has subtle problems with one or more of the following :
– Day to day memory
– Planning
– Language
– Attention
– Visuospatial skills (‘visuo’ referring to eyesight and ‘spatial’ referring to space or location) which give a person the ability to interpret objects and shapes.

Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: Definitions, Diagnosis, and Treatment (American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology Oxford Workshop)

These symptoms will have been noticed by the individual and those who know them. If the person with mild cognitive impairment has taken cognitive function test, their problems will be seen in test results over time. Any decline will be greater than the gradual decline that many people experience as part of normal, healthy ageing. There may be minor problems with more demanding tasks, but generally not problems in everyday living.

|Can Alzheimer’s disease be prevented |

Memory loss and other cognitive problems can arise from many different causes.For some of people diagnoses with mild cognitive impairment, memory loss will be the first sign of Alzheimer’s disease. For some of those with other cognitive problems, these will be the first signs of vascular dementia, fronto-temporal dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies.
Other people will have mild cognitive impairment as a result of a curable condition such as stress, anxiety or depression or from physical illness or side-effects of medication.

Source :- Alzheimer’s Society