Symptoms

Your brain changes as you grow older just like the rest of your body. Many people notice gradually increasing forgetfulness as they age. It may take longer to think of a word or to recall a person's name.

But consistent or increasing concern about your mental performance may suggest MCI. Cognitive issues may go beyond what's expected and indicate possible MCI if you experience any or all of the following:

• You forget things more often.
• You forget important events such as appointments or social engagements.
• You lose your train of thought or the thread of conversations, books or movies.
• You feel increasingly overwhelmed by making decisions, planning steps to accomplish a task or interpreting instructions.
• You start to have trouble finding your way around familiar environments.
• You become more impulsive or show increasingly poor judgment.
• Your family and friends notice any of these changes.

If you have MCI, you may also experience:

• Depression
• Irritability and aggression
• Anxiety
• Apathy

Causes

There's no single cause of MCI, just as there's no single outcome for the disorder. Symptoms of MCI may remain stable for years, progress to Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia, or improve over time.

Current evidence indicates that MCI often, but not always, causes a lesser degree of the same types of brain changes seen in Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia. Some of these changes have been identified in autopsy studies of people with MCI. These changes include:

• Plaques and tangles, which are microscopic protein clumps characteristic of Alzheimer's disease
• Lewy bodies, which are microscopic clumps of another protein associated with Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and some cases of Alzheimer's disease
• Small strokes or reduced blood flow through brain blood vessels

Brain-imaging studies show that the following changes are often associated with MCI:

• Shrinkage of the hippocampus, a brain region important for memory
• Plaques (abnormal clumps of beta-amyloid protein) throughout the brain
• Enlargement of the brain's fluid-filled spaces (ventricles)
• Reduced use of glucose, the sugar that's the primary source of energy for cells, in key brain regions

Risk factors

The strongest risk factors for MCI are:

• Increasing age
• Having a specific form of a gene known as APOE-e4, also linked to Alzheimer's disease — though having the gene doesn't guarantee that you'll experience cognitive decline

Other medical conditions and lifestyle factors have been linked to an increased risk of cognitive change, but the evidence for these risk factors is less clear-cut. These risk factors include:

• Diabetes
• Current smoking
• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Elevated cholesterol
• Lack of physical exercise
• Infrequent participation in mentally or socially stimulating activities

Complications

People with MCI have a significantly increased risk — but not a certainty — of developing Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia. Overall, about 1 to 2 percent of older adults develop dementia every year. Among older adults with MCI, studies suggest that 6 to 15 percent may develop dementia every year.

Preparing for your appointment

You're likely to start by seeing your family doctor or a general practitioner. If your doctor suspects you have cognitive changes, you may be referred to a specialist with expertise in evaluating mental function. The specialist may be a neurologist, psychiatrist or neuropsychologist.

Because appointments can be brief and there's often a lot of ground to cover, it's a good idea to be well prepared. Here are some suggestions to help you get ready for your appointment and understand what to expect from your doctor.

What you can do

• Be aware of any preappointment restrictions. When you make your appointment, ask if you need to fast for blood work or if you need to do anything else to prepare for diagnostic tests.
• Write down all of your symptoms. Your doctor will want to know details about what's causing your concern about your memory or mental function. Make notes about some of the most important examples of forgetfulness or other lapses you want to mention. Try to remember when you first started to suspect that something might be wrong. If you think your difficulties are getting worse, be ready to explain why.
• Take along a family member or friend, if possible. Corroboration from a relative or trusted friend can play a key role in confirming that your memory difficulties are apparent to others. Having someone along can also help you soak up all the information provided during your appointment.
• Make a list of your other medical conditions. Your doctor will want to know if you're currently being treated for diabetes, heart disease, past strokes or any other conditions.
• Make a list of all your medications, including over-the-counter drugs and vitamins or supplements.

Questions to ask your doctor
Because time with your doctor is limited, writing down a list of questions will help you make the most of your appointment. List your questions from most pressing to least important in case time runs out. For cognitive changes, some questions to ask your doctor include:

• Do I have a memory problem?
• What's causing my difficulties?
• What tests do I need?
• Do I need to see a specialist? What will that cost? Will my insurance cover it?
• Are treatments available?
• Are there any clinical trials of experimental treatments I should consider?
• Should I expect any long-term complications?
• Will my new symptoms affect how I manage my other health conditions?
• Do I need to follow any restrictions?
• Is there a generic alternative to the medicine you're prescribing me?
• Do you have any brochures or other printed material I can take home with me? What websites do you recommend?

In addition to the questions you've prepared ahead of time, don't hesitate to ask your doctor to clarify anything you don't understand.

What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor is also likely to have questions for you. Being ready to respond may free up time to focus on any points you want to talk about in-depth. Your doctor may ask:

• What kinds of memory difficulties are you having? When did they first appear?
• Are they steadily getting worse, or are they sometimes better and sometimes worse?
• Do you feel any sadder or more anxious than usual?
• Have you noticed any changes in the way you tend to react to people or events?
• Have you noticed any changes in how well or how long you sleep? Do you snore?
• Do you have more energy than usual, less than usual or about the same?
• What medications are you taking? Are you taking any vitamins or supplements?
• Do you drink alcohol? How much?
• What other medical conditions are you being treated for?
• Have you noticed any trembling or trouble walking?
• Are you having any trouble remembering your medical appointments or when to take your medication?
• Have you had your hearing and vision tested recently?
• Did anyone else in your family ever have memory trouble? Was anyone ever diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or dementia?

Tests and diagnosis

There is no specific test to confirm a diagnosis of MCI. Your doctor will make a judgment about whether MCI is the most likely cause of your symptoms based on the information you provide and results of various tests that can help clarify the diagnosis.

Many doctors diagnose MCI based on the following criteria developed by a panel of international experts:

• You have problems with memory or another mental function,such as planning, following instructions or making decisions. Ideally, your own impressions are corroborated by someone close to you.
• You've declined over time. A careful medical history reveals that your ability has declined from a higher level. Again, this change is ideally confirmed by a family member or a close friend.
• Your overall mental function and daily activities are not affected. Your medical history also shows that your overall abilities and daily activities are generally not impaired, although specific symptoms may cause worry and inconvenience.
• Mental status testing shows a mild level of impairment for your age and education level. Doctors often assess mental performance with a brief test such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). More detailed neuropsychological testing may shed additional light on the degree of memory impairment, which types of memory are most affected and whether other mental skills are also impaired.
• Your diagnosis is not dementia. The problems that you describe and that your doctor documents through corroborating reports, your medical history or mental status testing are not severe enough to be diagnosed as Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia.

Neurological exam
As part of your physical exam, your doctor may perform some basic tests that indicate how well your brain and nervous system are working. These tests can help detect signs of Parkinson's disease, strokes, tumors or other medical conditions that can impair memory as well as physical function. The neurological exam may test:

• Reflexes
• Eye movements
• Walking and balance
• Sense of touch

Lab tests
Blood tests can help rule out physical problems that can affect memory, such as a vitamin B-12 deficiency or an underactive thyroid gland.

Brain imaging
Your doctor may order an MRI or CT scan to check for evidence of a brain tumor, stroke or bleeding.

Mental status testing
Short forms of mental status testing can be done in about 10 minutes. Commonly used tests include the following tasks and questions:

• Draw a clock face with the hands showing a time specified by the examiner.
• Name today's date and your location.
• Copy a design, such as two intersecting pentagons.
• Follow a three-step command.
• Remember a list of three words spoken to you by the examiner.
• Follow a written instruction.
• Write down a complete sentence.
• Count backward from 100 by sevens.

Longer forms of neuropsychological testing can provide additional details about your mental function compared with others' of a similar age and education level. These tests may also help identify patterns of change that offer clues about the underlying cause of your symptoms.

Treatment and drugs

Currently, no MCI drugs or other treatments are specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But MCI is an active area of research. Clinical studies are under way to shed more light on the disorder and find treatments that may improve symptoms or prevent or delay progression to dementia.

Alzheimer's drugs
Doctors sometimes prescribe cholinesterase inhibitors, a type of drug approved for Alzheimer's disease, for people with MCI when the main symptom is memory loss. However, cholinesterase inhibitors aren't recommended for routine use in MCI because they don't appear to provide lasting benefit.

Treating other conditions that can affect mental function
Other common conditions besides MCI can make you feel forgetful or less mentally sharp than usual. Treating these conditions can help improve your memory and overall mental function. Conditions that can affect memory include:

• High blood pressure. People with MCI tend to be more likely to have problems with the blood vessels inside their brains. High blood pressure can worsen these problems and cause memory difficulties. Your doctor will monitor your blood pressure and recommend steps to lower it if it's too high.
• Depression. When you're depressed, you often feel forgetful and mentally "foggy." Depression is common in people with MCI. Treating depression may help improve memory, while making it easier to cope with the changes in your life.
• Sleep apnea. In this condition, your breathing repeatedly stops and starts while you're asleep, making it impossible to get a good night's rest. Sleep apnea can make you feel excessively tired during the day, forgetful and unable to concentrate. Treatment can improve these symptoms and restore alertness.

Lifestyle and home remedies

Study results have been mixed about whether diet, exercise or other healthy lifestyle choices can prevent or reverse cognitive decline. Regardless, these healthy choices promote good overall health and may play a role in good cognitive health.

• Regular exercise has known benefits for heart health and may also help prevent cognitive decline.
• A diet low in fat and rich in fruits and vegetables is another heart-healthy choice that may also help protect cognitive health.
• Omega-3 fatty acids are also good for the heart. Most research showing a possible benefit for cognitive health uses fish consumption as a yardstick for the amount of omega-3 fatty acids eaten.
• Social engagement and intellectual stimulation may make life more satisfying and help preserve mental function.

Alternative medicine

Some supplements — including vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, folate, beta carotene and ginkgo — have been purported to help prevent or delay the progression of mild cognitive impairment. However, no supplement has shown any benefit in a clinical trial.