If you are concerned about your memory

Mild Cognitive Impairment or MCI is a condition in which someone has minor problems with their cognition (thinking skills), for example, difficulties with memory, reasoning, attention or language. These difficulties can have a number of causes, and therefore the term MCI refers to a set of symptoms, rather than a specific illness or disease.

Whilst we know that a decline in cognitive abilities is normal in healthy ageing, in someone with MCI this decline will be greater than would be predicted for their age.

For a diagnosis of MCI to be made, these difficulties will be worse than expected of a healthy person of their age, but not severe enough to interfere significantly with the person’s day to day functioning.

With a diagnosis of MCI, it is difficult to predict whether these changes will improve, remain static, or decline over time. For some people with MCI, their difficulties will be found to have a treatable cause; for example, we know that anxiety/stress and depression can both negatively impact a person’s cognition. Similarly, some physical illnesses can impact on a person’s mental abilities.

For others, MCI maybe a “pre-dementia” condition, meaning that the cognitive changes experienced by the person are in fact the beginning of a progressive dementia. This means that the changes in the brain seen in dementia are already established. In these cases, the condition will likely progress from MCI to dementia, as these disease processes are not reversible.

Although there are no medications currently to treat MCI, there is a lot someone with MCI can do to help lower their chances of developing dementia. MCI is more likely to progress to dementia if the person has a poorly controlled heart condition or diabetes or has strokes.

Therefore, treatment for MCI will often include medication for any heart condition a person may have, or tablets to reduce high blood pressure, prevent clots or lower cholesterol. If mental health difficulties are thought to be a possible cause of the MCI, these can be treated with talking therapies, medication or both.