Prognosis of cognitive deficit progression in aged patients with mild cognitive impairment under prolonged therapy (a three year observation)

: The aim of the study was to predict treatment efficacy in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and to find the most reliable clinical tests for the prediction of dementia. Patients with amnestic MCI (n=53) were treated with cerebrolysin for three years and underwent regularly neurocognitive and clinical psychiatric tests. The data were analyzed using non-parametric statistics, cluster analysis, and linear discriminate analysis. The combination of statistical methods has enabled to predict the degree of cognitive impairment as well as the development of dementia. A "dementia risk group" with fast cognitive decline (i.e. the low efficacy of the treatment) was identified. The tests are ranked according to their predictive values.