A Comparison Study of Mild Cognitive Impairment with 3 Memory Tests Among Chinese Individuals

Objective: To examine whether 3 common memory tests differ statistically in terms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) discrimination rates and conversion rates to Alzheimer disease.

Methods: A sample of 329 Chinese patients who consulted our memory clinic in Shanghai were tested using tasks including the auditory verbal learning test (AVLT), the logical memory (LM) test, the Rey-Osterrieth complex figure test, and other neuropsychologic tasks. One hundred and forty-nine of these patients were tested again using the identical tests 2 years later. The diagnose standard of probable Alzheimer disease is the same as the standard of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke-Alzheimer Disease and Related Disorders Association.

Results: The results of the MCI discrimination rates are as follows: AVLT-II (51%) >AVLT-I (31%) > complex figure test-II (27%) >LM-I (21%)=LM-II (21%) (I-immediate recall; II-delayed recall). The MCI group categorized based on LM-II cutoff has a higher conversion rate per year (24%), but also a higher reversal rate and missed diagnosis rate, whereas the group based on AVLT-II cutoff has a lower conversion rate per year (12%), but also a lower reversal rate and missed diagnosis rate.

Conclusions: The MCI discrimination rate and the conversion rate among different episodic memory tests are differ considerably.