Combined clinical and cognitive criteria to identify mild cognitive impairment in a southern Chinese community

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is a recognized risk condition for clinical dementia. This paper attempted to explore the applicability of a combined cognitive and clinical approach to identify older Chinese adults at-risk of cognitive decline. Seven hundred forty randomly recruited community dwelling participants (aged 60 or over) were assessed at baseline and 2 years with Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and a cognitive battery. Baseline MCI groups were categorized by CDR-MCI, cognitive function (Cog-MCI), and a combined CDR-Cog approach. The cognitive approach adopted the Mayo clinic criteria. For the combined approach, nonamnestic MCI combined CDR 0.5 plus nonmemory cognitive deficits. The overall concordance between CDR and Cognitive test ratings were 65.3% (χ² = 256.4, P<0.001, κ=0.44). With a combined approach, 424(57%) participants were classified as normal. CDR-MCI group had higher cognitive scores compared with MCI groups by other criteria (1 way analysis of variance or ANOVA). At 2 years, the combined CDR-Cog MCI group identified all dementia (N=24) converters although group differences were not significant. Cognitive function and CDR identified participants potentially at-risk for furthermore decline, but exhibited some differences in detection profiles. A combined approach may be more practical in screening for MCI participants with diverse educational and cultural background.