Bad news on dementia front

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2008 | by Mary Brophy Marcus

The incidence of mild cognitive impairment, often described as a precursor to Alzheimer's disease, is much higher than expected, said Mayo Clinic scientists who presented research on Monday at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease meeting in Chicago.

Individuals in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging -- a study launched in 2004 that is following 1,786 70- to 89-year-olds from Olmsted County, Minn. -- developed mild cognitive impairment at a rate of about 5.3% per year.

Study author Ronald Petersen and his colleagues had calculated that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) rates would have been closer to a 1% or 2% increase a year, based on Alzheimer's rates. "The rate of new MCI cases in this group was considerably higher than anticipated -- about three...