People with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are more likely to develop dementia, a neurologist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital said, adding that people with MCI who do not exercise their brain regularly are 4.3 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Neurologist Fuh Jong-ling (傅中玲) said that she had been treating a 67-year-old retired businessman surnamed Chen (陳) who had no abnormal medical conditions and often went hiking with his friends, but found himself beginning to have memory loss in the past two years.
He was unable to recall the names of his friends, forgot to buy the things that his wife asked him to, could not remember the time and location of an appointment and had difficulty in remembering things he recently learned, Fuh said.
Although still capable of handling routine daily tasks, Chen sought medical help at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Fuh said.
When he was told a list of 12 items and asked to remember them after 20 minutes, he could only remember four, Fuh said, adding that magnetic resonance imaging showed no signs of hippocampal shrinkage in Chen’s brain, but only leukodystrophy, which led him to be diagnosed with MCI.
The hospital cited a study by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which showed that among Taiwanese aged 65 or over, 18.8 percent have MCI and 8.04 percent have dementia.
There are about 570,000 people with MCI — about the population of Miaoli County — and 240,0000 people with dementia in the nation, the hospital said.
About 10 to 15 percent of people with MCI develop dementia, it said, adding that people with single domain amnestic MCI are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
MCI is an transitional condition between being normal and having dementia, Fuh said.
An ongoing study that the hospital launched in October 2012 on 87 MCI patients consisting of 46 men and 41 women, with an average age of 74, showed that 24 of them — 11 men and 13 women — developed Alzheimer’s disease, she said.
While regular brain exercises, such as reading, playing cards or chess, solving crossword puzzles, playing instruments or video games can help maintain brain functions and postpone degeneration, it is also important that elderly people go through cognitive check-up exams every year, Fuh added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS