Prevalence, Incidence, Influence Factors, and Cognitive Characteristics of Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adult: A 1-Year Follow-Up Study in China

BACKGROUND: The risk and protective factors of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and its prevalence as well as incidence among old adult in Chinese community are still unclear. METHODS: We carried out this 1-year longitudinal study to survey a random sample of 3,246 community elders aged 60 and over in China. All subjects were required to complete a comprehensive clinical assessment, physical examination and several neuropsychological tests at baseline and follow-up. What’s more, we also collected their lifestyle information by a standardized questionnaire. RESULTS: We found that the prevalence of aMCI was 17.1%, while the incidence of aMCI among Chinese old adult was 70.57 per 1,000 person-years. By using Cox regression analysis, we found that male sex (p = 0.001, OR = 0.489, 95%CI 0.319~0.751) and reading (p = 0.023, OR = 0.533, 95%CI 0.310~0.917) were protective factors for against aMCI. Old adult who developed aMCI in the future showed multiple cognitive impairments (such as immediate memory, associative learning memory and executive function) in their early stage, and Wechsler’s Block Design (p = 0.027, OR = 0.969, 95%CL 0.943~0.996) could predict whether subjects would turn into aMCI in the future. CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that aMCI is a considerable health problem in China. Executive dysfunction may be an indicator of future development of aMCI in the old normal adult.