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To the Editor:
Using data from the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging (ILSA), Di Carlo et al. reported a higher (16.1%) prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) than we reported in this same elderly population (3.2%).1
An explanation for this difference may be the more liberal criterion for MCI (subjects not scoring >1 SD below the mean of an age- and education-adjusted mean on the Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]) than used by studies using more conventional criteria.2 Using more conventional criteria (subjects not scoring >1.5 SDs below mean age- and education-adjusted on the MMSE and scoring >10th percentile below age- and education-adjusted on Babcock Story Recall Test [assessing episodic memory]) in exactly the same cohort, we found a prevalence rate of 3.2% for MCI.3
This diagnosis did not exclude subjects with mild impairment on activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living and individuals affected by numerous comorbidities not influencing global cognitive functions. Therefore, they may be well represented by aMCI.3 Prevalence estimates of amnestic variants of MCI in other worldwide population-based studies are consistent with those reported in our study: 3% in France (Eugeria Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Aging); 3.1% in Germany (Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the Aged); 3.02% in Canada (Canadian Study of Health and Aging); and 3.2% in the United States (MoVIES study).2 Two exceptions were 5% reported in an urban community in northern Manhattan,4 closer to the MCI prevalence rate reported in our study rather than those estimated in the study …
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