Neurological abnormalities in cognitively impaired but not demented elderly.

We determined the prevalence and clinical characteristics of elderly people with cognitively impaired but not demented (CIND) in the community. We examined 945 elderly residents (aged 65 years or more) in a cross-sectional study of a standardized clinical examination in 27 randomly selected communities in the town of Mifune, a standard farming town in Japan. The prevalence of CIND and dementia were 10.8% and 4.8%, respectively, with both rates increasing with age. The frequency of most neurological signs in CIND elderly was greater than that found in subjects with no cognitive impairment (NCI) and less than that in subjects with dementia. The mean ADL disability score in CIND subjects also lay between the mean values for those with NCI and those with dementia. There were no differences in lifestyles between the CIND group and the other groups. The results suggest that a majority of CIND elderly suffer from brain dysfunction due to chronic neurological disorders or aging itself.