Information source: Department of Neurology Release time: 2022-03-14

　　On 9 March, Professor Du Yifeng, Director of Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University (Shandong Provincial Hospital), published an article in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, which was titled Mild Cognitive Impairment among Rural-dwelling Older Adults in China: A Community Based Study". Cong Lin, deputy chief physician of Shandong Provincial Hospital, is the first author, and Professor Du Yifeng of Shandong Provincial Hospital and Qiu Chengxuan, Professor of Karolinska Institute in Sweden are the corresponding authors.

　　In recent years, Professor Du Yifeng's team of Shandong Provincial Hospital and Professor Qiu Chengxuan's team of Karolinska Institute in Sweden have worked together on the study of MIND-China, a multi-mode intervention project for dementia in China, on the basis of the early, standardized cohort of the elderly population in the community "Research on Aging and Dementia in Yanggu County of Shandong province". MIND-China is a randomized, controlled, multi-level, personalized and multi-dimension, large-scale, and community-based population intervention study targeting the main controllable risk factors of Alzheimer's disease, aiming at reducing the risk of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and disability through multi- intervention model.

　　Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) features memory impairment, and may have some degree of declining cognitive functions, but it does not meet the diagnostic criteria of dementia. Relevant studies have found that 15% -20% of MCI patients are diagnosed with AD every year, which is an advanced, risky state of dementia. Therefore, MCI is of great significance in the prevention and treatment of dementia and AD. In 2018, the research team conducted a comprehensive assessment and screening of the cognitive function among more than 5,700 elderly people over 60 years old in 52 villages of Yanlou town and Yanggu county in Shandong province. With the help of standardized diagnostic methods, the prevalence and related risk factors of MCI and its subtypes were studied in depth, which is the largest single-center study of MCI in rural communities in China. Studies have shown that the prevalence of MCI in the elderly population in rural China is 26.5%, of which four fifths are amnestic MCI (aMCI), in a high-risk subtype of AD. In addition, old age, farming, and low educational level were associated with MCI and aMCI subtypes, while hypertension and history of stroke were clearly associated with non-amnestic MCI (naMCI).

　　Epidemiological studies on MCI mainly focus on the urban elderly population with few studies on the rural community population. Current guidelines recommend that the diagnosis of MCI should be based on the combination of psychological assessment and clinical examination, but most studies define MCI only on the cognitive screening scale without clinical evaluation, which makes it difficult to compare the prevalence in different countries and regions. Professor Qiu Chengxuan of Karolinska Institute, one of the leaders of the study, said, “This study adopts a combination of comprehensive neuropsychological assessment and clinical evaluation to diagnose MCI, providing reliable data for the epidemiological characteristics of MCI in rural communities in China." As a transitional from normal aging to dementia, MCI has attracted more attention. The study of MCI is an important link in the early diagnosis and intervention of AD. Professor Du Yifeng said, "This study reveals that the prevalence of MCI in rural China is relatively high." This may be related to poor socio-economic conditions, low educational level and high prevalence of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and their risk factors in rural population. Our research team is conducting a multi-modal intervention study for this population, which will provide scientific basis and intervention strategies for MCI transformation and dementia prevention.

　　The MIND-China project is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program (2017YFC1310100), the China-Swedish International Cooperation Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (8171101298) and the Special Disease Prevention and Treatment Project of Combined Use of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine in Shandong province (YXH2019ZXY008).

　　Related Links:http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35262288/http://news.ki.se/over-one-fourth-of-the-older-population-in-rural-china-affected-by-mild-cognitive-impairment