Dynamics of neurocognitive change in patients with mild cognitive impairment

Purpose: To examine the dynamics and cognitive indicators of neuropsychological change in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: A total of 50 patients with MCI diagnosis and a control group of 33 healthy people took part in the study. A multidomain cognitive battery was administered and the volume of both regions of the hippocampus were measured using magnetic resonance imaging. Two assessments were made at a 24 month interval. According to the dynamics of global cognitive decline in two years the MCI patients were divided into stable (sMCI) and deteriorating (dMCI) groups. The three groups were comparable in terms of demographic variables and emotional state. Results: At baseline there was no significant difference between MCI groups on the level of the General Cognitive Functioning Index (GFI); however, the dMCI patients made significantly more errors in their performance. Hippocampal volumes were also similar in the MCI groups. After two years, the dMCI patients showed significant decline in the GFI and verbal memory as compared with the remaining groups. Hippocampal volumes significantly decreased in both MCI groups. There was a moderate relationship between the change in cognitive state and the change in left hippocampal volumetry in the MCI group as a whole (r = 0.4). Cognitive factors of inaccurate recall and perseverations differentiated the sMCI and dMCI patients at baseline (p = 0.04 and p = 0.01, respectively). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that neuropsychological indicators of verbal memory functions and executive aspects of memory seem to have a significant value in predicting cognitive deterioration in MCI patients.