Objective To study the characteristics of TCM syndromes of amnestic mild cognitive impairment （aMCI） to provide evidence for TCM treatment.Methods According to diagnostic criteria of amnestic mild cognitive impairment （aMCI） and Alzheimei’s Disease （AD）

patients from Dongzhimen Hospital and residents aged 40

8

5 from seven communities were assigned into aMCI group

AD group and normal control （NC） group

based on their neuro-psychological assessments

imaging and biochemical analysis. And then differentiation of TCM syndromes was done to analyze the characteristics of TCM syndromes of aMCI and their risk factors

and the correlation between the syndromes and ages as well.Results Scores of syndrome of kidney essence deficiency

syndrome of brain confused by phlegm

and syndrome of blood stasis in brain in aMCI group were significantly higher than those of NC group （P

<

0.05 or P

<

0.01）. In NC group

it was mainly the single syndromes

while in aMCI and AD groups

it was mostly 3 syndromes or over in complication with the higher incidence of syndrome of brain confused by phlegm complicated with kidney essence deficiency

blood stasis in brain or deficiency of qi and blood. The syndrome of brain confused by phlegm in aMCI and AD groups was significantly more than that in NC group （P

<

0.05 or P

<

0.01）. The Logistic Regression Analysis showed that the syndrome of brain confused by phlegm was the most risk factor for aMCI. The syndrome of deficiency of kidney essence was correlated with age in NC group.Conclusion The primary characteristics of TCM syndromes of aMCI and AD are deficiency of kidney essence

brain confused by phlegm

and blood stasis in brain. Among the healthy aged people

the syndrome of deficiency of kidney essence is closely related with age. The syndrome of brain confused by phlegm serves as an independent risk factor for aMCI. The more complicated the syndromes are

the worse the cognitive impairment becomes.