Objectives: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a heterogeneous clinical syndrome and is important for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). With the expansion of biomarker-based diagnostics, the aim of this study is to clarify the current attitudes towards and the use of MCI, and MCI due to AD, in German memory clinics.
Methods: An online survey (50 items) was performed in 2022 among specialized clinicians (
N = 45) in German memory clinics to assess the use of MCI and biomarkers in current diagnosis and treatment. Attitudinal and frequency items were assessed with a five-point numeric scale (
strongly disagree = 1 to
completely agree = 5 and
never = 1 to
always = 5, respectively).
Results: All respondents used MCI as a clinical diagnosis. The benefits of diagnosing MCI were labeling deficits as disease symptoms (
M = 4.4,
SD = 0.7), improving coping with symptoms (
M = 4.1,
SD = 0.9), and motivating risk reduction activities (
M = 4.0,
SD = 0.9). Overall, 37 respondents used specialized diagnostic criteria for MCI due to AD, and all had access to biomarker diagnostics. Patients with MCI due to AD received more frequent counseling on memory training (
p < 0.001), other non-pharmacological treatments (
p < 0.001), and antidementive drug treatment (
p < 0.001) than patients with MCI of other etiologies. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors were prescribed significantly more frequently to patients with MCI due to AD (
p < 0.001) compared to other MCI patients.
Conclusions: MCI is commonly used as a clinical diagnosis in German memory clinics. AD biomarker assessment is well established and influences patient counseling and treatment recommendations.
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