P3-173: HOW SHOULD WE ASSESS FUNCTIONAL PERFORMANCE IN INDIVIDUALS WITH MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT (MCI)?
Background: The olfactory identificationdysfunction in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) which precedes mainly Alzheimer disease (AD) is well known and is considered to be caused by AD pathology. The presence of olfactory impairment in non amnestic MCI (naMCI) and patients with subjective memory complaint (SMC) is controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the degree of objective and subjective olfactory dysfunction in aMCI, naMCI and SMC. Methods: 92 patients with aMCI and 32 patients with naMCI, 28 SMC patients and 50 age matched healthy controls underwent a multiple choice olfactory identification test with 18 different odors developed in our memory clinic. Results: Both aMCI and naMCI patients showed impairment in olfactory identification test compared to both controls and SMC (p<0.01). There was no difference between aMCI and naMCI groups and between SMC and controls in olfactory identification. Conclusions: The olfactory identification impairment in naMCIand aMCI isindistinguishable. NaMCI often converts to Frontotemporal lobar degeneration, dementia with Lewy body or Vascular dementia and the olfactory deficit found in this study could be explained by the recently demonstrated olfactory impairment in these dementia subtypes. SMC patients do not have any significant olfactory discrimination impairment.