Machine Learning Predicts Conversion from Normal Aging to Mild Cognitive Impairment Using Medical History, APOE Genotype, and Neuropsychological Assessment.

Background: Identifying individuals at risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is of urgent clinical need.

Objective: This study aimed to determine whether machine learning approaches could harness longitudinal neuropsychology measures, medical data, and APOEɛ4 genotype to identify individuals at risk of MCI 1 to 2 years prior to diagnosis.

Methods: Data from 676 individuals who participated in the 'APOE in the Predisposition to, Protection from and Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease' longitudinal study (N = 66 who converted to MCI) were utilized in supervised machine learning algorithms to predict conversion to MCI.

Procedural learning, declarative learning, and working memory as predictors of learning the use of a memory compensation tool in persons with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Persons with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) are at risk for experiencing changes in their daily functioning due to their memory impairment. The Memory Support System (MSS), a compensatory calendaring system, was developed to support functional independence in persons with aMCI (pwaMCI). This cross-sectional study examined procedural learning, declarative learning, and working memory as predictors of MSS learning efficiency in pwaMCI.

Hippocampal Subfields in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Associations with Objective and Informant-Report of Memory Function.

Background: Evidence suggests that select hippocampal subfields are implicated in the initial stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are selectively involved in objective memory. Less is known whether subfields are associated with informant-reported memory difficulties of individuals with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Method: Data from 56 participants with a diagnosis of amnestic MCI were included in the present study.

Behavioral Interventions in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): Lessons from a Multicomponent Program.

Comparative effectiveness of behavioral interventions to mitigate the impacts of degeneration-based cognitive decline is not well understood. To better address this gap, we summarize the studies from the Healthy Action to Benefit Independence & Thinking (HABIT®) program, developed for persons with mild cognitive impairment (pwMCI) and their partners. HABIT® includes memory compensation training, computerized cognitive training (CCT), yoga, patient and partner support groups, and wellness education.

Declarative Learning, Priming, and Procedural Learning Performances comparing Individuals with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults.

Objective: While declarative learning is dependent on the hippocampus, procedural learning and repetition priming can operate independently from the hippocampus, making them potential targets for behavioral interventions that utilize non-declarative memory systems to compensate for the declarative learning deficits associated with hippocampal insult. Few studies have assessed procedural learning and repetition priming in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Method: This study offers an overview across declarative, conceptual repetition priming, and procedural learning tasks by providing between-group effect sizes and Bayes Factors (BFs) comparing individuals with aMCI and controls.

Memory Support System in Spanish: A Pilot Study.

Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is prevalent in the general population, particularly among Hispanic adults. SCD increases the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. While non-pharmacologic interventions are recommended to mitigate cognitive decline and preserve daily function in SCD and MCI, such interventions are not readily available for Spanish-speaking Hispanic adults with SCD.

Latent Factor Structure of Outcome Measures Used in the HABIT® Mild Cognitive Impairment Intervention Programs.

Background: In Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRD) research, common outcome measures include cognitive and functional impairment, as well as persons with mild cognitive impairment (pwMCI) and care partner self-reported mood and quality of life. Studies commonly analyze these measures separately, which potentially leads to issues of multiple comparisons and/or multicollinearity among measures while ignoring the latent constructs they may be measuring.

Objective: This study sought to examine the latent factor structure of a battery of 12-13 measures of domains mentioned above, used in a multicomponent behavioral intervention (The HABIT® program) for pwMCI and their partners.

Computerized Cognitive Training (CCT) versus Yoga Impact on 12 Month Post Intervention Cognitive Outcome in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

There is currently limited and mixed evidence for the cognitive benefits of Computerized Cognitive Training (CCT) and yoga in persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment (pwMCI). The objective of this study was to investigate the benefit of computerized cognitive training (CCT) vs. physical (yoga) intervention on cognitive abilities.

Innovation Inspired by COVID: A Virtual Treatment Program for Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment at Mayo Clinic.

Limited access to mental health and behavioral interventions is a public health issue that predated and is further worsened by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) social distancing restrictions. The Healthy Action to Benefit Independence and Thinking (HABIT) program is a cognitive rehabilitation and wellness program for patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and their partners that involves groups of up to 32 people (16 dyads) at a time. Thus, the public health recommendation to avoid groups at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic immediately impacted our ability to offer this treatment protocol.

Comparative Effects of Physical Exercise and Other Behavioral Interventions on Functional Status Outcomes in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Objectives: Lifestyle modifications for those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may promote functional stability, lesson disease severity, and improve well-being outcomes such as quality of life. The current analysis of our larger comparative effectiveness study evaluated which specific combinations of lifestyle modifications offered as part of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Action to Benefit Independence in Thinking (HABIT) program contributed to the least functional decline in people with MCI (pwMCI) over 18 months.

Methods: We undertook to compare evidence-based interventions with one another rather than to a no-treatment control group.

The impact of patient and partner personality traits on learning success for a cognitive rehabilitation intervention for patients with MCI.

The Memory Support System (MSS) is the memory compensation tool used in the HABIT Healthy Action to Benefit Independence and Thinking Program. People diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (pwMCI;  = 153) participated in this cognitive rehabilitative programme with a partner. We first aimed to determine if prior research on the positive impact of higher baseline cognitive status on successful MSS learning would be replicated in a new sample.

Psychometric properties of the self-efficacy for managing mild cognitive impairment scale.

Objectives: We adapted a self-efficacy measure for managing chronic illness to be specific to persons with mild cognitive impairment (pwMCI). The aim of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the scale, the self-efficacy for managing MCI scale, for use in research.

Methods: Analyses involved data from pwMCI enrolled in a behavioral intervention study that completed the measure five times from intervention enrollment to 18-month post-intervention.

Functional ability is associated with higher adherence to behavioral interventions in mild cognitive impairment.

Behavioral interventions during early memory decline hold promise in delaying the development of dementia. In the present study, participants in a multimodal behavioral intervention study were assessed for post-intervention adherence and predictors of adherence. Participants ( = 272, mean age = 75.

Memory Support System training in mild cognitive impairment: Predictors of learning and adherence.

This study aimed to identify predictors of learning and adherence to a previously validated compensatory calendar and note-taking system (Memory Support System; MSS) in persons with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Age, education, global cognition, depression, and memory-related self-efficacy were studied as predictors of individuals' ability to learn the use of the MSS during the two-week training and of their adherence to the MSS 6, 12, and 18 months after training. How well an individual was able to learn the use of the MSS was itself examined as a predictor of adherence.

Comparative Effectiveness of Behavioral Interventions on Quality of Life for Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Recommendations to engage in behavioral strategies to combat clinically significant cognitive and behavioral symptoms are routinely given to persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The comparative effectiveness of these behavioral interventions is not well understood.

Objective: To compare the incremental effects of combinations of 5 behavioral interventions on outcomes of highest importance to patients with MCI.

Self-Efficacy Mediates the Association Between Physical Function and Perceived Quality of Life in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Research has shown that individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) value quality of life (QoL) above and beyond cognitive function or other potential outcomes in MCI. There is evidence supporting the negative impact of poor physical function on QoL ratings.

Objective: The study explored whether a modified measure of self-efficacy for managing MCI and education mediated and/or moderated the relationship between physical function and QoL in persons with MCI.

Physical exercise and cognitive engagement outcomes for mild neurocognitive disorder: a group-randomized pilot trial.

Background: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is considered a risk state for the development of dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. It is also a period in which interventions may be most effective in slowing progression to dementia. Computerized cognitive training and increased physical activity have shown to be among the most promising interventions.

A Survey of Patient and Partner Outcome and Treatment Preferences in Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: The patient-centered movement in health care is increasing efforts to design studies and interventions that address the outcomes that matter most to patients and their families. Research has not adequately addressed Alzheimer's disease patient and caregiver preferences.

Objective: To survey the outcome and treatment preferences of patients and caregivers who had completed a multicomponent behavioral intervention for mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Behavioral Interventions to Prevent or Delay Dementia: Protocol for a Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Study.

Background: Currently, people at risk for dementia and their caregivers are confronted with confusing choices about what behavioral interventions are most effective.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine which empirically supported behavioral interventions most impact the outcomes highly valued by patients with mild cognitive impairment and their partners.

Methods: This protocol describes a comparative effectiveness trial targeting 300 participants with mild cognitive impairment and their study partners.

Computer versus Compensatory Calendar Training in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment: Functional Impact in a Pilot Study.

This pilot study examined the functional impact of computerized versus compensatory calendar training in cognitive rehabilitation participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Fifty-seven participants with amnestic MCI completed randomly assigned calendar or computer training. A standard care control group was used for comparison.

A pilot randomized trial of two cognitive rehabilitation interventions for mild cognitive impairment: caregiver outcomes.

Objective: This study aims to provide effect size estimates of the impact of two cognitive rehabilitation interventions provided to patients with mild cognitive impairment: computerized brain fitness exercise and memory support system on support partners' outcomes of depression, anxiety, quality of life, and partner burden.

Methods: A randomized controlled pilot trial was performed.

Results: At 6 months, the partners from both treatment groups showed stable to improved depression scores, while partners in an untreated control group showed worsening depression over 6 months.

Three-word recall in normal aging.

Three-word recall tasks are widely used as brief measures of verbal memory function, although interpretation of performance is complicated by variations in test instructions and procedures. The purpose of this study was to examine 3-word recall performance in samples of healthy subjects aged 5275 (M age = 70) and age 7692 (M age = 82) compared to patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) when explicit prompts to remember the words were given. Those in the younger aging group remembered significantly more words than those in the older sample after a brief delay (M= 2.

Association between Dementia Rating Scale performance and neurocognitive domains in Alzheimer's disease.

The Dementia Rating Scale (DRS; Mattis, 1976, 1988) is commonly used in the assessment of dementia, although little is known about the relationship of performance on this test to specific cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Additionally, cognitive profiles have not been investigated across different levels of dementia as determined by the DRS. A sample of 133 individuals diagnosed with possible or probable AD was administered the DRS as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation.