A comparison of the mini mental state exam to the Montreal cognitive assessment in identifying cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease.
Dementia is an important and increasingly recognized problem in Parkinson's disease (PD). The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) often fails to detect early cognitive decline. The Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) is a brief tool developed to detect mild cognitive impairment that assesses a broader range of domains frequently affected in PD. The scores on the MMSE and the MoCA were compared in 88 patients with PD. A pronounced ceiling effect was observed with the MMSE but not with the MoCA. The range and standard deviation of scores was larger with the MoCA(7-30, 4.26) than with the MMSE(16-30, 2.55). The percentage of subjects scoring below a cutoff of 26/30 (used by others to detect mild cognitive impairment) was higher on the MoCA (32%) than on the MMSE (11%) (P < 0.000002). Compared to the MMSE, the MoCA may be a more sensitive tool to identify early cognitive impairment in PD.
Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Cindy
C
Zadikoff
Susan H
SH
Fox
David F
DF
Tang-Wai
Teri
T
Thomsen
Rob M A
RM
de Bie
Pettarusup
P
Wadia
Janis
J
Miyasaki
Sarah
S
Duff-Canning
Anthony E
AE
Lang
Connie
C
Marras
D000368:Aged; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications