Mayo Clinic staff have been at the forefront of research on dementia and Alzheimer's disease for several decades. For more information on dementia research, which includes research on mild cognitive impairment, see Mayo Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.
Since the 1980s, Mayo Clinic researchers have also been studying normal and abnormal cognitive aging through the research program known as the Alzheimer's Disease Patient Registry. This program, funded by the National Institute on Aging, has involved studies on changes in memory and other cognitive functions as people age. Some participants are older than 100 years of age. Patients with MCI, Alzheimer's disease, and other disorders affecting cognition have also participated, which has helped gather information on risk factors, research on the effectiveness of drugs, and other aspects of patient care.
Mayo Clinic in Arizona is part of the Arizona Alzheimer's Research Consortium, a statewide research collaboration designed to "capitalize on the state's complementary resources in brain imaging, computer science, the basic and behavioral neurosciences, and clinical and neuropathological research to help in the understanding, early detection, treatment, and prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD)."
See a list of publications by Mayo Clinic doctors on mild cognitive impairment on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.
Discovery of a Mutation Opens the Door to Dementia Research
2007 Mayo Magazine
Alzheimer's Disease
Discovery's Edge
Destroyed Nerve Cells: A Future for Lost Memory
Discovery's Edge