title: [The Mini-Mental State Examination in a general population: impact of educational status].
abstract: To assess the influence of age and education on cognitive performance in our population, 530 adults were interviewed using the MMSE (Mini-Mental Status Examination). Education level, classified as illiterate, elementary and middle (< 8 years) and high (> 8 years), was a significant predictor of performance (p < 0.0001). Nevertheless, the total scores were not significantly different among the age-groups, young (< or = 50 years), middle age 51 to 64 years) and elderly (> or = 65 years). The reference cut-off values were taken from the fifth percent lowest score for each group: illiterate, 13; elementary and middle, 18; and high, 26. When compared to 94 patients with cognitive impairment, our cut-off values achieved high sensitivity (82.4% for illiterates; 75.6% for elementary and middle; 80% for high) and specificity (97.5% for illiterate; 96.6% for elementary and middle; 95.6% for high educational level). Education-specific reference values for the MMSE are necessary in interpreting individual test results in populations of low educational level, in order to reduce the false positive results.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia e Neurocirurgia, Escola Paulista de Medicina, São Paulo, Brasil.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Bertolucci
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Brucki
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Campacci
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Juliano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
vernacular_title: O Mini-Exame do Estado Mental em uma população geral. Impacto da escolaridade.