Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) demonstrate significant impairments on clinically relevant abilities associated with capacity to consent to treatment. In obtaining informed consent, clinicians and researchers working with patients with MCI must consider the likelihood that many of these patients may have impairments in consent capacity related to their amnestic disorder and related cognitive impairments.

OBJECTIVE Self and informant reports of functional abilities are weighted heavily in diagnostic decision making regarding mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, it is unclear whether patients with MCI are fully aware and provide reliable estimates of their functional status. In this study, we used three different approaches to examine accuracy of self report of financial abilities among patients with MCI. DESIGN Cross-sectional, case-comparison group study. SETTING University medical center. PARTICIPANTS Seventy-four patients with MCI and their informants, and 73 cognitively healthy older adults and their informants. MEASUREMENTS We compared MCI patients’ report of their financial abilities to their performance on an objective measure of financial capacity. We also compared informant reports of patients’ abilities to patients’ objective test performance, and informant reports to patients’ self report. RESULTS We found that the discrepancy between self report and objective performance was higher among MCI patients compared to the cognitively healthy older adults on the financial domains of Checkbook Management, Bank Statement Management, and Bill Payment, and on overall financial capacity. We also found that MCI patients with poorer global cognition overestimated their financial abilities whereas those with higher depressive symptoms underestimated their financial abilities. Overall, MCI patients were better at estimating their financial abilities than their informants. CONCLUSIONS Patients with MCI are not fully aware of deficits in their financial abilities. Both cognitive impairment and depression impact MCI patients’ self-reported functioning. In addition, MCI informants misestimate patients’ financial abilities. This raises concerns about the widespread use of informant report as the gold standard against which to evaluate patient self-report of functioning.

This study investigated cognitive predictors of medical decision-making capacity (MDC) in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A total of 56 healthy controls, 60 patients with MCI, and 31 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) were administered the Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument (CCTI) and a neuropsychological test battery. The CCTI assesses MDC across four established treatment consent standards-S1 (expressing choice), S3 (appreciation), S4 (reasoning), and S5 (understanding)-and one experimental standard [S2] (reasonable choice). Scores on neuropsychological measures were correlated with scores on each CCTI standard. Significant bivariate correlates were subsequently entered into stepwise regression analyses to identity group-specific multivariable predictors of MDC across CCTI standards. Different multivariable cognitive models emerged across groups and consent standards. For the MCI group, measures of short-term verbal memory were key predictors of MDC for each of the three clinically relevant standards (S3, S4, and S5). Secondary predictors were measures of executive function. In contrast, in the mild AD group, measures tapping executive function and processing speed were primary predictors of S3, S4, and S5. MDC in patients with MCI is supported primarily by short-term verbal memory. The findings demonstrate the impact of amnestic deficits on MDC in patients with MCI. (JINS, 2008, 14, 297-308.)

Objective: To investigate longitudinal change in the medical decision-making capacity (MDC) of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) under different consent standards.Methods: Eighty-eight healthy older controls and 116 patients with MCI were administered the Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument at baseline and at 1 to 3 (mean ϭ 1.7) annual follow-up visits thereafter. Covariate-adjusted random coefficient regressions were used to examine differences in MDC trajectories across MCI and control participants, as well as to investigate the impact of conversion to Alzheimer disease on MCI patients' MDC trajectories.Results: At baseline, MCI patients performed significantly below controls only on the three clinically relevant standards of appreciation, reasoning, and understanding. Compared with controls, MCI patients experienced significant declines over time on understanding but not on any other consent standard. Conversion affected both the elevation (a decrease in performance) and slope (acceleration in subsequent rate of decline) of MCI patients' MDC trajectories on understanding. A trend emerged for conversion to be associated with a performance decrease on reasoning in the MCI group. Conclusions: Medical decision-making capacity (MDC) decline in mild cognitive impairment (MCI)is a relatively slow but detectable process. Over a 3-year period, patients with amnestic MCI show progressive decline in the ability to understand consent information. This decline accelerates after conversion to Alzheimer disease (AD), reflecting increasing vulnerability to decisional impairment. Clinicians and researchers working with MCI patients should give particular attention to the informed consent process when conversion to AD is suspected or confirmed. Neurology ® 2008;

Background: Sialorrhoea and drooling are disabling manifestations of different neurological disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A) injection on hypersalivation in 90 patients with neurological diseases of different aetiologies, and to define the minimum number of injected salivary glands to reduce sialorrhoea. Determining the minimum number of glands that need to be engaged in order to have a significant reduction in drooling may be very useful for establishing the minimum total dosage of BoNT/A that may be considered effective in the treatment of hypersalivation. Methods: Twenty-five mouse units (MU) of BoNT/A (onabotulinumtoxin A, Botox; Allergan, Irvine, CA, USA; 100 MU/2 mL, 0.9% saline; or incobotulinumtoxin A, Xeomin; Merz Pharma, Germany; 100 MU/2 mL, 0.9% saline) were percutaneously injected into the parotid (p) glands and/or submandibular (s) glands under ultrasound control. On this basis, patients were divided into three groups. In group A (30 patients), BoNT/A injections were performed into four glands; in group B (30 patients), into three glands, and in group C (30 patients), into two glands. Patients treated in three glands (group B) were divided into two subgroups based on the treated glands (2 p + 1 s = 15 patients; 2 s + 1 p = 15 patients). Similarly, patients being injected in two glands (group C) were subdivided into three groups (2 p = 10 patients; 1 p + 1 s = 10 patients; 2 s = 10 patients). In patients who were injected in three and two salivary glands, saline solution was injected into the remaining one and two glands, respectively. Assessments were performed at baseline and at 2 weeks after the injections. Results: BoNT/A significantly reduced sialorrhoea in 82 out of 90 patients. The effect was more evident in patients who had four glands injected than when three or two glands were injected. The injections into three glands were more effective than injections into two glands. Conclusions: Our results have shown that BoNT/A injections induced a significant reduction in sialorrhoea in most patients (91%). In addition, we demonstrated that sialorrhoea associated with different neurological diseases was better controlled when the number of treated glands was higher.