Floyd Willis, M.D.

Mild Cognitive Impairment in African-Americans

There is growing interest in the topic of memory loss as it pertains to normal aging versus memory loss that is secondary to the development of a neurodegenerative dementia. The clinical entity of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) was established as a means of reliably characterizing and identifying this boundary or transition area between dementia and normal aging. (Petersen 2001). ). MCI refers to a focal memory deficit in the context of preserved function in other cognitive domains and spared capacity to manage activities of daily living. It is now known that patients with MCI are at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Early detection of AD is of importance because it allows opportunity for both physician and family to pursue intervention that may delay or prevent the financial and physical burden of this disease. The Mayo Clinic has in the past and continues to study MCI in Caucasians, but little is known about African Americans with MCI. To be inclusive of African Americans in future prevention and treatment studies, it is critical that we characterize the features of this group as well. The primary hypothesis of this study is that African Americans with MCI will have clinical and radiological features similar to reported features for Caucasians with MCI. However, because African Americans may be at increased risk of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia as compared to other ethnic groups, and because it is also known that vascular dementia and AD often co-exist, AD and MCI in African Americans could be associated with a different risk profile that includes greater risk of vascular disease

We propose to

1. Recruit and characterize 35 African Americans who meet criteria for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).
2. To determine whether African Americans with MCI show reduced hippocampal volume when compared to an age-matched cognitively normal African American cohort, and whether this is related to memory performance.
3. To identify whether African Americans with MCI are more likely to have vascular risk factors or evidence of vascular disease than an age-matched cognitively normal African American cohort.