The problem of mild dementia

The problem of mild dementia 1 Because of the worldwide increase in the proportion of elderly in the population, the prevalence of dementia is rising markedly. It is therefore welcome that biomedical and epidemiological research on dementia has become more intensive, with evidence of some recent progress in both these fields An area of particular research interest is mild dementia. Although this term is already in common usage in the clinical and epidemiological literature, there are certain difficulties about the concept: there are no specific criteria by which its presence can be asserted; it is not itself a diagnosis, but rather a rubric for the early stages of several neuropathologically distinct disorders; and little is known about its natural history. The single common feature in mild dementia is the presence of mild cognitive impairment, presumed to be a decline from a formerly higher level of functioning. Although there are appreciable problems in method which first require to be overcome, mild dementia promises to be a rewarding area for epidemiological study.