Difficulties with memory or memory loss can arise due to a number of problems and can affect all ages. Careful diagnosis of the cause of your memory difficulty is crucial to identifying the correct treatment and the road to recovery.

Our clinicians are able to comprehensively evaluate your brain function and cognitive/memory abilities to ascertain the exact cause of your memory loss.

An area of concern these days is in older adults are fears of conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

Prevalence. In reality, the prevalence of severe memory or cognitive impairment in the community is approximately 1% at age 60, 10% at 65, and more than 40% over the age of 85 (Bolla et al., 2000; Canning et al., 2004; Saxton et al., 2004; Taylor & Grant, 2002). Current guidelines suggest clinicians should assess cognitive function whenever memory loss or cognitive impairment or deterioration is suspected by either direct observation, patient report, concerns raised by family members, friends, or caretakers (Canning et al., 2004; Miller et al., 2005; U.S.Preventive Services Task Force*, 2003).

Early detection and treatment. The importance of early detection is crucial given conversion rates from Mild Cognitive (memory) Impairment (MCI) to dementia at 10-15% per year (Libon et al., 1996; Rasquin et al., 2005). Patients whom go unnoticed miss important new treatment and intervention strategies that can improve life style, delay progression to dementia, and reduce cognitive decline (Wells et al., 2003), and in some cases prevent decline. Early detection can also prevent the occurrence of adverse consequences such as motor vehicle accidents, self-neglect, financial victimization, and housing relocation. Under diagnosis. Research suggests the identification of cognitive impairment in the elderly often goes unnoticed in primary care settings, and by relatives and family (Damian et al., 2005; Taylor & Grant, 2002). However, elderly individuals with dementia can be identified 10 to 20 years before dementia onset (Elias et al., 2000; Saxton et al., 2004).

Depression. Another related problem is the incidence of depression which is found to affect between 10-28% of the elderly population (Taylor & Grant, 2002). Detection and treatment of depression is very important since patients with MCI and depression, relative to MCI only, are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's dementia (AD), particularly those who do not respond to treatment (Modrego & Ferrandez, 2004).

	Read and find out more about our personalized medicine approach.
	Read about monitoring your memory and cognition from home.
	Read some of our case examples.
	Look at some of our scientific publications on memory.
	Read about brain health

References

Bolla, LR, Filley, CM, and Palmer, RM (2000). Dementia DDx. Office diagnosis of the four major types of dementia. Geriatrics , 55 , 34-37.

Canning, SJD, Leach, L, Stuss, D, Ngo, L, and Black, SE (2004). Diagnostic utility of abbreviated fluency measures in Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia. Neurology , 62 , 556-562.

Damian, M, Kreis, M, Krumm, B, and Hentschel, F (2005). Optimized neuropsychological procedures at different stages of dementia diagnostics. Journal of the Neurological Sciences , 229-230 , 95-101.

Elias, MF, Beiser, A, Wolf, PA, Au, R, White, RF, and D'Agostino, RB (2000). The Preclinical Phase of Alzheimer Disease: A 22-Year Prospective Study of the Framingham Cohort. Archives of Neurology , 57 , 808-813.

Libon, DJ, Malamut, BL, Swenson, R, Sands, LP, and Cloud, BS (1996). Further analyses of clock drawings among demented and nondemented older subjects. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology , 11 , 193-205.

Miller, KJ, Rogers, SA, Siddarth, P, and Small, GW (2005). Object naming and semantic fluency among individuals with genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry , 20 , 128-136.

Modrego, PJ and Ferrandez, J (2004). Depression in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment Increases the Risk of Developing Dementia of Alzheimer Type: A Prospective Cohort Study. Archives of Neurology , 61 , 1290-1293.

Rasquin, SMC, Lodder, J, and Verhey, FRJ (2005). Predictors of reversible mild cognitive impairment after stroke: a 2-year follow-up study. Journal of the Neurological Sciences , 229-230 , 21-25.

Saxton, J, Lopez, OL, Ratcliff, G, Dulberg, C, Fried, LP, Carlson, MC, Newman, AB, and Kuller, L (2004). Preclinical Alzheimer disease: Neuropsychological test performance 1.5 to 8 years prior to onset. Neurology , 63 , 2341-2347.

Taylor, M and Grant, F (2002). Cognitive dysfunction in the elderly. Why assessment is of practical consequence to anaesthetists. Current Anaesthesia and Critical Care , 13 , 221-227.

U.S.Preventive Services Task Force* (2003). Screening for Dementia: Recommendation and Rationale. Annals of Internal Medicine , 138 , 925-926.