You have trouble following a conversation. You find it hard to make decisions, finish a task or follow instructions. You start to have trouble finding your way around places you know well. You begin to have poor judgment.
Health care providers often use a brief test such as the Short Test of Mental Status, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) or the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). More detailed testing may help determine the degree memory is impaired.
“Cognitive decline may begin after midlife, but most often occurs at higher ages (70 or higher).” (Aartsen, et al., 2002) “… relatively little decline in performance occurs until people are about 50 years old.” (Albert & Heaton, 1988).
High blood pressure causes faster cognitive decline, and that taking hypertension medication slows the pace of that decline.
MCI means that the cognitive declines do not affect the person's ability to carry out everyday tasks (e.g., shopping, cooking, driving), while dementia indicates those cognitive difficulties are impacting the person's ability to complete everyday tasks.
Short-term memory/delayed recall: Five words are read. The test-taker is asked to repeat them. After completing other tasks, the person is asked to repeat each of the five words again. If they can't recall them, they're given a cue of the category that the word belongs to.
The Mini-Cog test.
A third test, known as the Mini-Cog, takes 2 to 4 minutes to administer and involves asking patients to recall three words after drawing a picture of a clock. If a patient shows no difficulties recalling the words, it is inferred that he or she does not have dementia.
Cognitive decline can range from mild cognitive impairment to dementia, a form of decline in abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.
What is mild cognitive impairment? Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition in which someone has minor problems with cognition - their mental abilities such as memory or thinking. In MCI these difficulties are worse than would normally be expected for a healthy person of their age.
An estimated 10 to 20% of people age 65 or older with MCI develop dementia over a one-year period. However, not everyone who has MCI develops dementia. In many cases, the symptoms of MCI may stay the same or even improve.
Cognitive disorders are defined as any disorder that significantly impairs the cognitive functions of an individual to the point where normal functioning in society is impossible without treatment. Alzheimer disease is the most well-known condition associated with cognitive impairment.
Alzheimer's disease, one of the most common cognitive disorders, affects approximately 5.1 million Americans.
The five-minute cognitive test (FCT) was designed to capture deficits in five domains of cognitive abilities, including episodic memory, language fluency, time orientation, visuospatial function, and executive function.
A list of ten unrelated words are orally presented one by one, and subjects are instructed to recall as many items as possible immediately after their presentation (immediate free recall, the traditional span task) and after a predetermined time, in general 5 to 10 minutes (delayed free recall).
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a tool that helps healthcare professionals detect mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease in people. A 2021 study found that it is a better measure of cognitive function than the MMSE. It consists of 30 questions that take 10–12 minutes to accomplish.
The Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam, known as SAGE, is a brief, pen-and-paper cognitive assessment tool designed to detect the early signs of cognitive, memory, or thinking impairments. The test evaluates your thinking abilities. This can help your doctors understand how well your brain is functioning.
Many people affected by dementia are concerned that they may inherit or pass on dementia. The majority of dementia is not inherited by children and grandchildren. In rarer types of dementia there may be a strong genetic link, but these are only a tiny proportion of overall cases of dementia.
The strongest risk factors for mild cognitive impairment are the same as those for dementia: Being 65 or older. Having a biological family history of dementia. Having conditions that increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, diabetes and obesity.
Dr. Salinas says MCI can often be reversed if a general health condition (such as sleep deprivation) is causing the decline. In those cases, addressing the underlying cause can dramatically improve cognition. When MCI can't be reversed, treatment is challenging.