Objective The purpose of the current study was to conduct a mild cognitive impairment (MCI) prevalence survey among the community senior citizens of Changsha City and analyze possible relevant factors so as to perform early screening and intervention for MCI patients, and delay or prevent MCI from developing into Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Methods Between April and September 2012, a total of 1764 community senior citizens in Changsha City were selected through multi-stage and random cluster sampling as study subjects. The following tables were used during the investigation to perform preliminary MCI screening for the subjects of this study: a general information survey; Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); Beijing version; Global Deteriorate Scale (GDS); Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale; and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) scale. Then, neurology specialists made diagnoses according to the actual status of subjects, survey findings, and clinical MCI diagnostic standards. The prevalence of MCI was calculated and the rates concerning senior citizens with different demographic characteristics were compared. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze relevant factors that led to MCI, and comparing findings with those of other cities was conducted.

Results The MCI prevalence among senior citizens in Changsha City was 16.27% (287/1 764). The MCI prevalence increased with age [for the 60, 70, and 80 age groups, the prevalence was 9.79% (84/858), 20.14% (149/740), and 32.53% (54/166), respectively, P<0.05]. The more education received, the less the likelihood of developing MCI [the prevalence of illiteracy, those who went to primary school, junior high school, senior high school, or technical secondary school, college, and undergraduates and above was 32.10% (26/81), 18.40% (90/489), 13.97% (70/501), 15.29% (61/399), 14.39% (19/132), and 12.96% (21/162), respectively, P<0.05]. Blue-collar workers’ chances of developing MCI was higher than white-collar workers [19.12% (187/978) and 12.72% (100/786), respectively, P<0.05]. Living alone increased the likelihood of developing MCI than not living alone [21.59% (65/301) and 15.17% (222/1 463), P<0.05]. The logistic regression analysis showed that age, educational background, and marital status were in the regression (P<0.05). The MCI prevalence of Changsha did not differ from that Portugal, Singapore, Beijing, and Urumchi (P>0.05), but lower than Shanghai [35.78% (161/450)] and higher than Chengdu [2.35% (92/3 910)] (P<0.05).

Conclusion The prevalence of MCI among the community senior citizens of Changsha City is highly related to factors like age, educational background, and marital status. Prevention against these high-risk factors shall be carried out to delay cognitive decline for senior citizens.