Impact of Patient Mild Cognitive Impairment on Physician Decision-Making for Treatment and Treatment
Patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are less likely to receive guideline-concordant treatment for cardiovascular disease and other conditions. Our team conducted a study to explore how a patient’s MCI diagnosis influences physician decision-making for treatment recommendations. We identified two major themes as factors that influenced physician recommendations in patients with MCI: Physicians assume that MCI patients’ decreased cognitive ability will impact treatment; and physicians assume that MCI patients have poor health status and physical functioning that will impact treatment. Some physician assumptions about patients with MCI were not evidence-based. This phenomenon potentially explains why many patients with MCI get fewer effective treatments or tests than cognitively normal patients