Social cognition profile in amnestic MCI

Abstract

Background: For years, disturbance of social cogni tion was considered as an early feature of schizophrenia andautism. Recently, i t has been studied in many neurodegenerative diseases, and included as one of the six keydomains of cogni tive function defined by DSM- V. Mi ld cogni tive impai rment (MCI ) is a t ransi tional state betweennormal cogni tive aging and dementia, mainly of AD type. Few reports have addressed theory of mind (ToM)capaci ty in patients wi th MCIAim: To detect ToM impai rment among amnestic MCI patients and to characterize the neuropsychological andfunctional profi les of MCI cases according to thei r ToM capaci ty.Methods: 40 elderly diabetic patients wi th amnestic MCI were recrui ted. Each patient underwent cogni tive, andfunctional assessment. The secon d order false bel ief (John and Mer ry story) test was used to assess socialcogni tion.Results: There was no signi f icant di fference between cases wi th and wi thout impai red social cogni tion regardingage, ADL,or IADL, whi le MMSE scores were signi ficantly lower among cases wi th impai red second order bel ief .Stick design tests, and digi t span tests were signi ficantly af fected in the cases wi th impai red social cogni tion.Conclusions: Social cogni tion was impai red in about 17.5% of patients wi th MCI, which was n ot reflected uponfunctional status. MCI patients wi th impai red social cogni tion, performed worse in the stick design test and thedigi t span forward test.