PHILADELPHIA—One of the first studies to look at a relationship between death and the two types of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) suggests that people who have cognitive problems but their memory is still intact might have a higher death rate in a period of six years compared to those who have no cognitive or memory problems. The research was presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology. The same was suggested in the study for those who are experiencing MCI with memory decline; however the first group had the highest death rate.
“Currently there is little information about death and the types of memory loss that affect many millions of Americans,” said study author Maria Vassilaki, MD, with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Exploring how memory may or may not be linked with the length of life a person has is of tremendous significance as the population ages.” For the study, 862 people with thinking problems and 1,292 with no thinking problems between the ages of 70 and 89 were followed for nearly six years. Participants were from Olmsted County, Minnesota, and were given tests at the start of the study and every 15 months to assess their thinking abilities.
Over six years, 331 of the group with MCI and 224 of the group without MCI died. Those who had MCI had an 80% higher death rate during the study than those without MCI.
People with MCI with no memory loss had more than twice the death rate during the study than those without MCI, while people with MCI with memory loss had a 68% higher death rate during the study than those without MCI.