What is an "MCI Screen"?

What is an "MCI Screen"?

Gus Alva (Medical Director, ATP Clinical Research) gives expert video advice on: What do I do if I think a loved one has Alzheimer's disease?; How is Alzheimer's disease diagnosed?; Who can diagnose Alzheimer's disease or dementia? and more...

The MCI screen is a diagnostic tool that can help in detecting somebody that has a cognitive impairment versus a normal individual. It's a test that was developed by a company called MC Care and there's a website in which most clinicians could actually look up the specific tool. It basically helps in identifying short-term memory problems in individuals, and again, it has great sensitivity and specificity. There are other tests that are also used as well. The MMSE, although widely used, is very crude because depending on the individual's age or educational backdrop, people would score very differently. And then there are also other things like Clock Drawing, the Mini Cog, the AD-8, the Slums, etc. There's a whole slew of different tests to help figure out whether somebody has a memory problem or not; unfortunately none of them is 100% specific.