{"id":2520,"date":"2019-06-30T16:10:53","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T21:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/?p=2520"},"modified":"2020-02-21T12:48:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-21T17:48:29","slug":"what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Have you noticed that your memory or that of a loved one is playing tricks on you? This article will clarify what is mild cognitive impairment and how it is different from other changes in brain function.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>3 ways to categorize cognitive changes<\/h3>\n<p>Changes in cognitive function (brain function) can be classified in 3 broad categories:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Normal cognitive aging<\/li>\n<li>Mild cognitive impairment<\/li>\n<li>Major cognitive impairment or dementia.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>As we age, changes in cognitive function are expected: most of these are considered as normal cognitive aging. But when changes are significant enough to\u00a0<a href=\"\/en\/have-you-heard-of-adls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">impact daily activities<\/a>, the reason may be cognitive impairment (mild or major). To really understand how these three categories differ, you have to account for both the cognitive change AND their consequences on daily activities.<\/p>\n<h3>Difference between mild cognitive impairment and normal cognitive aging<\/h3>\n<p>The difference between mild cognitive impairment and normal cognitive aging is that the former entails a change in brain function that is\u00a0<strong>significant and detectable<\/strong>\u00a0by cognitive function testing. This testing can be done by your doctor or by a neuropsychologist. Not all changes in brain function are signs of cognitive impairment: an important departure from what is normal is required for cognitive impairment.<\/p>\n<h3>Difference between mild cognitive impairment and major cognitive impairment (or dementia)<\/h3>\n<p>The difference between mild cognitive impairment and major cognitive impairment is that \u201cmajor\u201d cognitive impairment refers to situations where the cognitive decline is important enough to interfere with a person\u2019s ability to\u00a0<a href=\"\/en\/have-you-heard-of-adls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">take care of their daily activities<\/a>\u00a0(for example, work, manage finances, drive, host, or cook). Keep in mind that the critical difference between mild and major cognitive impairment is a person\u2019s\u00a0<em>daily<\/em>\u00a0<em>functioning<\/em>. Major cognitive impairment is also referred to as dementia.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a summary table:<\/p>\n<h3>What are the causes of mild cognitive impairment?<\/h3>\n<p>All\u00a0<a href=\"\/en\/what-are-the-forms-of-dementia-and-why-it-is-important-to-make-a-distinction\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">causes and types of dementia<\/a>\u00a0start as mild cognitive impairment. In other words, Alzheimer\u2019s, vascular dementia (caused by changes in blood vessels in the brain), or Lewy body dementia can cause mild cognitive impairment before becoming major cognitive impairment (dementia).\u00a0<strong>However<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>not everyone with mild cognitive impairment goes on to develop dementia.<\/strong>\u00a0Indeed, cognitive impairment may not worsen with time or worsen very slowly.<\/p>\n<h3>What\u2019s the risk of getting major cognitive impairment with mild cognitive impairment?<\/h3>\n<p>About 15% of those with mild cognitive impairment will go on to develop major cognitive impairment each year. This number is approximative and the individual risk of progression varies a lot from one situation to another. Having a discussion with your doctor is important to get the relevant information for you.<\/p>\n<h3>Key message<\/h3>\n<p>Mild cognitive impairment refers to changes in brain function that are more than what is expected with normal aging. In mild cognitive impairment, these changes do\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0have a significant impact on daily activities and functioning. It\u2019s important to differentiate mild cognitive impairment from normal cognitive aging and major cognitive impairment (dementia).<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you want to know more about how cognitive impairment is diagnosed<\/strong>, read our article:\u00a0<a href=\"\/en\/how-is-dementia-diagnosed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How is dementia diagnosed?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>If you want to know more about the difference between Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia<\/strong>, read our article:\u00a0<a href=\"\/en\/what-is-the-difference-between-alzheimers-and-dementia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">What is the difference between Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All\u00a0causes and types of dementia\u00a0start as mild cognitive impairment. In other words, Alzheimer\u2019s, vascular dementia (caused by changes in blood vessels in the brain), or Lewy body dementia can cause mild cognitive impairment before becoming major cognitive impairment (dementia).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? - Eugeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? - Eugeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All\u00a0causes and types of dementia\u00a0start as mild cognitive impairment. In other words, Alzheimer\u2019s, vascular dementia (caused by changes in blood vessels in the brain), or Lewy body dementia can cause mild cognitive impairment before becoming major cognitive impairment (dementia).\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eugeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-30T21:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-21T17:48:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/trouble-cognitif-mineur-leger-mci-tcm-tcl-minor-cognitive-impairment.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Quoc Nguyen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Eugeria\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/trouble-cognitif-mineur-leger-mci-tcm-tcl-minor-cognitive-impairment.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/trouble-cognitif-mineur-leger-mci-tcm-tcl-minor-cognitive-impairment.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":420},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/\",\"name\":\"What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? - Eugeria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-30T21:10:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-21T17:48:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f17c797c2f12948d60f862a96ae2db2e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f17c797c2f12948d60f862a96ae2db2e\",\"name\":\"Quoc Nguyen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b666881fe563b4e4b134aed325b1eb01?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b666881fe563b4e4b134aed325b1eb01?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Quoc Nguyen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/author\/quoc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? - Eugeria","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/info.eugeria.ca\/en\/what-is-mild-cognitive-impairment-mci\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)? - Eugeria","og_description":"All\u00a0causes and types of dementia\u00a0start as mild cognitive impairment. 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