Table 1 Diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer disease and cognitive impairment

Probable Alzheimer disease

By criteria of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association (NINCDS-ADRDA) [6] Dementia by clinical examination, and documented with the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE) and the Short-Blessed functional impairment questionnaire, with progressive deficits in 2 or more cognitive domains.

• Absence of other disorders that could account for the progressive dementia symptoms

Possible Alzheimer disease

By NINCDS-ADRDA criteria :

• Dementia, as defined above;

• Presence of

1) variations in the onset, presentation or clinical course;

- or -

2) other disorder(s) sufficient to produce dementia, but not thought to be the cause of the dementia in this case

Mild Cognitive Impairment

• Subjective memory complaint

• Normal general cognitive function by MMSE

• Standard score of -1.5, below the same-age norm, on the long delay free recall item of the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT)

Age-Associated Memory Impairment

• Has both Subjective memory complaint and normal general cognitive function by MMSE

• And either:

1) Standard score of -1.0, below the norm for 20–24 year- olds, on the long delay free recall item of the CVLT

- or -

2) Clinical Dementia Rating score of 0.5 - or -

3) Significant decline from previous performance on cognitive test(s) while still scoring in normal range