• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.1376-1383
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• 2023

Recent studies have confirmed that gut microbiota differs according to race or country in many diseases, including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease. However, no study has analyzed the characteristics of Korean MCI patients. This study was performed to observe the association between gut microbiota and MCI in the Korean elderly and to identify potential markers for Korean MCI patients. For this purpose, we collected fecal samples from Korean subjects who were divided into an MCI group (n = 40) and control group (n = 40) for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Although no significant difference was observed in the overall microbial community profile, the relative abundance of several genera, including Bacteroides, Prevotella, and Akkermansia, showed significant differences between the two groups. In addition, the relative abundance of Prevotella was negatively correlated with that of Bacteroides (r = 0.733). This study may provide Korean-specific basic data for comparing the characteristics of the gut microbiota between Korean and non-Korean MCI patients.

• Dementia and Neurocognitive Disorders
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.107-116
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• 2022

Attention is being paid to diagnosis and treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) because early diagnosis and preventive management can slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease. In particular, in the present era, the use of biomarkers for predicting conversion into dementia is permitted in medical practice. Therefore, authors aimed to propose additional considerations when updating guidelines for the management of MCI, including predictable biomarkers, revising treatment option after additional clinical trials for cholinesterase inhibitors, and detailed regimes for lifestyle interventions. After reviewing 3 patients with MCI by detailed evaluation, we realized that cholinesterase inhibitors were not recommended. In addition, regular exercise and cognitive training were only possible recommendations for patients according to current guidelines, although all 3 patients had evidence of β-amyloid accumulation and related neurodegeneration. Furthermore, caregivers for all 3 patients were worried whether patients could keep doing regular exercise and cognitive training by themselves and asked about the economic training system which monitors patients so that they can keep training. Therefore, we propose that guidelines for managing MCI need to be updated in the present era when the use of biomarkers for predicting conversion into dementia is permitted in medical practice.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.191-199
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• 2020

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare sociodemographic characteristics of a normal cognitive group and mild cognitive impairment group, and establish prediction models of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis research using data from "the 4th Korea Longitudinal Study of Ageing" of the Korea Employment Information Service. A total of 6,405 individuals, including 1,329 individuals with MCI and 5,076 individuals with normal cognitive abilities, were part of the study. Based on the panel survey items, the research used 28 variables. The methods of analysis included a χ²-test, logistic regression analysis, decision tree analysis, predicted error rate, and an ROC curve calculated using SPSS 23.0 and SAS 13.2. Results: In the MCI group, the mean age was 71.4 and 65.8% of the participants was women. There were statistically significant differences in gender, age, and education in both groups. Predictors of MCI determined by using a logistic regression analysis were gender, age, education, instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), perceived health status, participation group, cultural activities, and life satisfaction. Decision tree analysis of predictors of MCI identified education, age, life satisfaction, and IADL as predictors. Conclusion: The accuracy of logistic regression model for MCI is slightly higher than that of decision tree model. The implementation of the prediction model for MCI established in this study may be utilized to identify middle-aged and elderly people with risks of MCI. Therefore, this study may contribute to the prevention and reduction of dementia.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.285-302
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• 2021

Objectives: To examine the effect of long-term Korean medicine treatment on mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: This study was conducted on two patients who were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and received long-term Korean medicine treatment. In order to evaluate the degree of cognitive decline, SNSB and K-MMSE were performed 2~3 times at the first visit and during the treatment process. Results: Both cases 1 and 2 were diagnosed with MCI with a high possibility of developing dementia. In case 1, MCI progressed to early dementia at one year after the diagnosis of MCI. However, in case 2, that MCI status was maintained without progressing to dementia for 4 years after the diagnosis of MCI. The cause of such difference in the course of MCI might be attributed to the fact that Case 1 had lower K-IADL level but higher SGDS level than Case 2 at the time of initial diagnosis, with weak family support and irregular herbal medicine intake. Conclusions: Korean medicine treatment could improve and manage symptoms of cognitive decline due to MCI.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2011

Objectives : As the number of patient with dementia increases, interest in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is a pre-dementia stage, has been expanding. In this study, we investigated the effects from selected clinical research articles to evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions. Methods : We searched MCI related articles on MEDLINE and the Web of Science using keywords related to MCI. We selected 26 articles, and 13 evaluated efficiency using the Jadad score. Results : Physical exercise and cognitive remediation techniques were effective for improving MCI. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, taichi, and music belonged to "perhaps" effectiveness group. Many of the 13 articles that evaluated MCI using the Jadad score evaluated them as "good" or "poor", and only three articles evaluated MCI as "excellent". Conclusions : The present evidence suggests that cognitive remediation techniques to improve memory and physical exercise were effective for people with MCI. However, further studies are needed to identify the physical exercise effects.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.351-360
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was done to compare demographic characteristics, comorbidity, and health habits of elders with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and elders with cognitively normal function (CNF). Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using data from the Database of the Seoul Dementia Management Project for 5,773 adults age 60 and above. Results: The MCI group showed an older age distribution, but there was no significant education difference between the two groups. Elders with MCI had more diabetes and stroke than elders with CNF. In subgroups, the same findings were observed in women, but not in men. While more men with MCI had hypertension compared to men with CNF, there was no significant difference in hypertension between the two groups for women. Elders with MCI, men in particular, had a lower prevalence of obesity than men with CNF. MCI individuals did less exercise compared to individuals with CNF. While there were no significant differences in alcohol consumption and smoking between MCI and CNF groups, the over 80's subgroup with MCI reported more alcohol consumption. Conclusion: Findings from this study could be helpful in designing community-based dementia prevention programs and health policies to reduce the prevalence of dementia or related cognitive impairments.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.673-684
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Although adherence to a higher diet quality may help prevent cognitive decline in older adults, literature for this in a Korean population is limited. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the association between diet quality indices and the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Korean older adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 806 community-dwelling people aged 60 yrs and over in Korea. Diet quality was assessed via the revised Recommended Food Score (RFS) and alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMDS). Cognitive function was measured using a Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-KC). Associations between diet quality indices and MMSE-KC score were assessed with a general linear model after adjusting for covariates. Logistic regression was used to determine the association between diet quality indices and the risk of MCI. RESULTS: The prevalence of MCI was 35.3%. There were no significant trends between MMSE-KC scores and RFS and aMDS after adjusting for age, gender, education, exercise, living status, social activity, and alcohol drinking. Among total subjects, RFS was inversely associated with the risk of MCI after adjusting for covariates (Q5 vs. Q1; odds ratio [OR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28-0.83). Among total subjects and men, aMDS was inversely related to the risk of MCI after adjusting for covariates (Q5 vs. Q1; OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29-0.89 for total subjects; Q5 vs. Q1; OR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.15-0.83 for men). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that high diet quality evaluated by RFS and aMDS is inversely associated with the risk of MCI. Thus, high quality diet may reduce or retard cognitive decline in the old population. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine the causal relationship between diet quality and the risk of MCI in the elderly.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.203-208
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• 2020

This study examined whether Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is related to the reduction of specific memory among linguistic memory and visuospatial memory, and to identify the most predictive index for discriminating MCI from normal elderly. The subjects were analyzed for 189 elderly (103 healthy elderly, 86 MCI). The verbal memory was used by the Seoul Verbal Learning Test. visuospatial memory was measured using the Rey Complex Figure Test. As a result of multiple logistic regression, verbal memory and visuospatial memory showed significant predictive performance in discriminating MCI from normal elderly. On the other hand, when all the confounding variables were corrected, including the results of each memory test, the predictive power was significant in distinguishing MCI from normal aging only in the immediate recall of verbal memory, and the predictive power was not significant in the immediate recall of visuospatial memory. This result suggests that delayed recall of visuospatial memory and immediate recall of verbal memory are the best combinations to discriminate memory ability of MCI.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.656-664
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• 2015

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to identify the rate of reversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to normal cognition (NC) among the community-dwelling elderly and to determine if there were differences in cognitive function, leisure activities, and exercises between the group with MCI-maintained and the group with reversion to NC. Methods: This study utilized a longitudinal descriptive comparative design. A total of 346 subjects over age 65 was recruited from public health center at baseline. Finally 152 elderly were enrolled at 1 year follow-up. Data were collected through MoCA-K, K-MMSE, KDSQ-C5 and questionnaires on leisure activities and exercises. Data were analyzed by IBM SPSS Statistics 21.0 using descriptive statistics, $x^2$ test, and t-test. Results: The rate of reversion from MCI to NC among the subjects was 44.1%. At baseline, the group with MCI-maintained had lower cognitive function than the group with reversion to NC. At 1 year follow-up, the group with reversion to NC had higher subjective cognitive function than the group with MCI-maintained. Regarding leisure activities, there were differences between the groups at baseline and 1 year follow-up. Conclusion: It is suggested that age, education year, subjective cognitive function, and leisure activities should be considered at planning a nursing intervention for MCI.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.34-45
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of laughter therapy and cognitive reinforcement program on self-efficacy, depression and cognitive functions of the elderly with mild cognitive impairments (MCI). Methods: The study design was a non-equivalent control group pre and posttest design. Thirty-six subjects over the age of 65 with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment were assigned either to a treatment or a comparison group. Data were collected from February 7 to March 27, 2012 in the dementia supporting center. An eight week treatment program that included laughter therapy coupled with a cognitive reinforcing program including hand exercise, laughter dance routine, laughter technic and cognitive training for attention, memory, orientation and execution skill. Results: MoCA-K (t=-6.86, p<.001) and Stroop test CW correct (t=-2.54, p=.008), self-efficacy (t=-3.62, p=.001) in the treatment group were significantly higher than those of the comparison group. Reported depression (t=2.29, p=.014), Stroop test CW error (U=53.50, p<.001) in the treatment group was significantly less than the comparison group. Conclusion: In this study, the treatment was effective in improving self-efficacy, cognitive function and reducing depression in the elderly with MCI.