Grey hair and grey matter
- Alzheimer Centre and Department of Neurology, Vrije Universiteit Medical Centre, PO Box 7057 Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Correspondence to: Professor Philip Scheltens; p.scheltensvumc.nl
Could treating memory disorders prevent dementia?
Memory complaints are very common in elderly people. In 1958 Kral1 had already introduced the terms “benign and malignant senescent forgetfulness,” attempting to differentiate between “normal” and pathological decline in memory performance during aging. Since that time the discussion has been continuing and many definitions for a suspected “transitional” stage between normal aging and dementia have been proposed. In the currently widely used criteria of “mild cognitive impairment” (MCI) by Petersen et al,2 one of the five key elements is objective memory impairment on testing, corrected for age and education, suggesting that age has an influence on memory performance. Yet little is known about the …
