title: The Mini-Mental State Examination score and the clinical diagnosis of dementia.
abstract: To set a working cutoff score for the referral to diagnostic examination, we evaluated 150 consecutive patients with complaints potentially related to dementia, using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). All patients were later given a complete, standardized work-up and diagnosis as part of our Alzheimer's Disease Patient Registry protocol. Dementia diagnosis was made, consistent with accepted criteria, by consensus of the physicians and psychologist. Diagnosis was reaffirmed after 1-year follow-up exam; 133 of the 150 original patients completed follow-up (80 dementia, 53 no dementia). We evaluated the initial MMSE score compared with the follow-up diagnosis. Sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values were calculated for MMSE scores ranging from 22 through 29. The conventional cutoff score of < 24 shows a sensitivity of 0.63 and a specificity of 0.96; sensitivity increased at higher cutoff scores. Multivariate analysis showed that educational level added significant prediction only at scores of > or = 27. We conclude that an MMSE score of 26 or 27 should be used as a cutoff score in symptomatic populations with similar educational and socioeconomic backgrounds when the goal is to miss few true cases. Population surveys where the expected prevalence is low may require a different cutoff score to indicate the need for further diagnostic evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle 98195, USA.
authors.forename: W A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Kukull
authors.forename: E B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Teri
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bowen
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McCormick
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pfanschmidt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors