ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Despite the increasing burden of dementia in developing countries, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) continues to be underexplored. MCI has conventionally been identified based on clinical profile, but recently, biomarkers suggestive of Alzheimer's disease pathology have been included in the revised National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) criteria. In this study, we evaluated the profile of MCI in a memory clinic in India and explored the applicability of the revised NIA-AA criteria in a limited resource setting. METHODS: Consecutive subjects evaluated at the memory clinic for mild memory complaints were included and underwent clinical and neuropsychological examination as well as standard brain imaging. A subset of patients was subjected to imaging biomarker studies as a part of routine clinical practice. RESULTS: Among the 1,190 patients evaluated during the study period, 226 (19.0%) presented with mild memory complaints. Cerebrovascular disease was a common secondary cause. Nearly half of the patients (109 of 226) had MCI according to the modified Petersen criteria. All MCI subjects were educated and the majority were male. A total of 12% of the cohort was classified by imaging biomarkers as having MCI with intermediate likelihood of AD according to the NIA-AA criteria. CONCLUSION: In the setting of urban India, MCI is an emerging problem; therefore, it was feasible to operationalise the revised NIA-AA criteria in identifying subjects with MCI with intermediate likelihood of AD.
