ABSTRACT
In recent years, increasing attention is being paid to the transitional state between normal ageing and early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). As research on ageing and dementia moves toward prevention, and as baby-boomers advance into the age at which they are at risk for AD, it has become important to characterize individuals who are at the earliest stage of a cognitive impairment, and to distinguish them from those experiencing normal ageing. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a term used to describe this transitional zone between normal ageing and very early AD. Mild cognitive impairment represents a condition where individuals show memory impairment greater than expected for their age, but otherwise are functioning well and do not meet the commonly accepted criteria for dementia (Petersen et al., 1999).
