Memory impairments underlie certain situations such as remembering the names of those people whom they met recently, difficulty in keeping the things at the right place and other such problems in everyday tasks. Experiencing such situation, an individual may develop cognitive impairments with one or more of the following functions like memory, reasoning, planning, decision-making, and attentional dysfunction, language and visual depth perception. These may result in minor problems associated with certain daily-based activities pertaining to paying bills, driving, and similar kind of activities. In order to cope up with problems, patients have to rely on calendars and note making strategies to compensate for any such emerging situations at a certain point of time. However, problems may become major if such cognitive dysfunctioning may significantly affect the everyday activities that give a clear indication of the onset of the occurrence of dementia [1, 2].

MCI may occur due to different possible causes some of which are treatable while some are not. There are certain causes of MCI that are often diagnosed by doctors and therapists treatable such as depression, stress, and anxiety [3]. Whereas, there is another category of symptoms that may be experienced due to physical illness, e.g. eye vision impairment [4], hearing inability [5] or side effects of medication [6]. Various subcategorizations of MCI are identified in previous studies. One such classification consists of amnestic and non-amnestic forms of MCI. In amnestic MCI, memory impairment is an indication of Alzheimer Disease (AD). While non-amnestic MCI contains a huge number of cognitive impairments, the most common among which is the executive function, i.e., inhibition in the facilitation of decision-making ability. In most of the cases of amnestic MCI, pathological changes of AD have not become heavily severe that may cause clinical dementia. Non-amnestic MCI may be associated with cerebrovascular disease, frontotemporal dementias or no specific pathology. It is also of interest to know that possibility of developing MCI is greater in women than in men [7].

It is very important to find out the cause of cognitive impairment. There are certain cases in which patients may develop cognitive impairment due to neurodegenerative diseases, such as, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). These kind of diseases may show certain symptoms that may represent the report of a patient’s diagnosis of major cognitive disorders and impairments such as dementia [8]. However, there are few cases in which the impact of mild cognitive impairment can be reversed. There are several forms of treatments that consisted of intervention strategies from various disciplines. Early diagnosis of cognitive impairment is essential for treatment since all the intervention mechanisms are most effective in the earlier stages of cognitive impairment [9]. It is said that staying active in older age and having good healthy social terms can help prevent some cognitive dysfunctioning issues. In previous studies, the frequency of depressive was found and anxiety symptoms varied along with the severity of dementia. For instance, depressive conditions may prevail more commonly in patients with mild to moderate dementia, while the high level of anxiety may be more frequent in later stages of the disease [10].

As suggestive measures, therapists may help the patients, diagnosed with symptoms of cognitive impairment, to identify and address any underlying medical issues that are present. Several procedures are involved like referring the patients for neuropsychological assessment or medical evaluation. These treatments and assessments will not only help to find the cause of the cognitive impairment but can also rule out any other medical issues from rising ahead that could be contributing to the symptoms, such as, a stroke or brain tumor that may further appear to be the cause of progression to dementia.

It should be of concern while making screening test to assess the cognitive impairment of individuals that what is the level of severity. The diagnosis process of dementia and cognitive dysfunctioning should have the case history assessment of direct interviewing procedures. In order to meet the requirements, several screening measures and techniques have been developed as discussed earlier.

In borderline or mild cases of dementia, assessments need to be done to meet the criteria to diagnose the complicated cases in easy and accurate manners. Such assessments should not be only limited to the memory cases but also include the cases comprising of linguistic, motor and other cognitive abilities. In order to monitor progress over time, the Mini-Mental Stage Examination is the cognitive assessment instrument widely used for cognitive disturbances in patients. It consists of thirty items for gaining information based on orientation, attention, learning, calculation, delayed recall, and construction. Some other sets of generic measures commonly used for the assessment of overall severity of dementia are Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) is a universally applicable rating device. CDR scoring is estimated based on a semi-structured interview of the subject and the informant and on the clinical diagnosis made by the clinician. CDR is calculated by testing six different cognitive and behavioral domains such as memory, orientation, judgment and problem-solving community affairs, home and hobbies performance, and personal care. The CDR scale varies from 0–3, where each score denotes to “no dementia” (CDR = 0), “questionable dementia” (CDR = 0.5), “MCI” (CDR = 1), “moderate cognitive impairment” (CDR = 2), and “severe cognitive impairment” (CDR = 3). The Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) gives a brief overview of those suffering from primary degenerative dementia with respect to stages of cognitive function. These stages comprised of seven different levels. Stages 1-3 categorized as a pre-dementia stage; stages 4-7 are that of dementia stages; stages 5-7 represent an inability to survive without assistance [25].

Likewise, there is another common test measure to assess dementia called Bristol Activities of Daily Living Scale (BADLS). This is a questionnaire based on twenty items. This is meant to assess the level of dementia in cognitively impaired individuals and their ability to carry out activities of daily living, containing mostly self-help tasks, such as personal hygiene, preparing one's food, etc. The recent introduction of dementia-specific assessment scales for quality of life allows a significant step forward to measure the prevalence rate of mild cognitive impairment and the cognitive strength in affected population. Assessment of changes in behavioural and cognitive functions in dementia susceptible populations is especially important in evaluating treatment effects. In order to maximize the clinical practice, the clinical experts must consider using the mentioned instruments frequently for the effective administrative procedures. There is a great effort needed for choosing and justifying primary outcome measures in research trials and pre-intervention techniques. Thus, clarity about intervention effects is quite important and basic familiarity with the strengths and weaknesses of commonly used assessment scales in mild cognitive impairment and onset of dementia can help improve the complexities of clinical practice.

Inspite of conducting frequent diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment in geriatric patients, certain disparities in its diagnosis and treatment procedures are reported [26]. Some of the observed errors may include such practices like having no consensus reports as a base to perform a certain number of neurological tests according to its need and suitability [27] or to mentioning the cutoff scores for each of the tests to indicate impairment [28].

Prevalence of MCI can be mitigated with the primary administration of intervention strategies and technology if the development of cognitive impairment in healthy people can be inhibited or stopped. The classifications and categorizations of MCI are getting broader and deeper day by day. The expansion in the use of imaging techniques and other neurological intervention strategies may further enhance the detection of subjects with MCI.