Predicting cognitive decline in healthy older adults.

OBJECTIVE Authors performed a neuropsychological determination of which individuals in a group of community-dwelling, healthy elderly volunteers would develop cognitive decline. METHODS A group of 155 volunteers reporting good memory and thinking participated in a prospective study over 4 years. Authors monitored cognitive functioning and incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)/Alzheimer disease (AD). RESULTS Baseline assessment revealed a subgroup of participants with deficits in associative learning and naming; subsequent cognitive decline was more precipitous in these individuals, who also showed higher relative risk of MCI/AD. CONCLUSION Cognitive measures may be useful in community and clinical dementia screening and applicable for identifying enriched samples for trials of anti-dementia treatments.