[Adaptation and convergent validity of a telephone-based Mini-Mental State Examination].
OBJECTIVE
To adapt to Spanish and to determine the convergent validity of a Telephone Mini-Mental State Examination (t-MMSE) in order to assess the cognitive functions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.


METHODS
Prospective and observational study of a clinical sample consisting of patients with dementia from a memory clinic. Consecutive sampling of participants was used and convergent validity of the t-MMSE and MMSE scores was determined using several statistics measures. Patients were randomly assigned depending on the administration of the in-person/telephone test (MMSE and t-MMSE) or telephone/in-person (t-MMSE and MMSE) test within a 1- to 7-day interval. The effect of the confusion variables (age, gender, years of education, dementia severity, presence or absence of hearing impairment and administration order) on the concordance between the in-person and telephone MMSE versions was analysed.


RESULTS
After translating and retranslating the t-MMSE, of 141 participants, 77.47% subjects completed the protocol of the study. For the total score, the statistics for the convergent validity suggested a high consistency, independently of the order of test administration (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.87, Spearman's rho = 0.77); for the all subscores, it suggested moderate and good correlations. The difference between subscores did not range more than 1 point in any case. Confusion variables did not affect the variability of the performance scores between t-MMSE and MMSE.


CONCLUSIONS
The t-MMSE can be used as a good tool to estimate the MMSE score of patients with dementia.
Garre-Olmo
Josep
J
Unitat de Recerca, Institut d'Assistència Sanitària, Salt, Girona, España. recerca@ias.scs.es
Lax-Pericall
Carme
C
Turro-Garriga
Oriol
O
Soler-Cors
Olga
O
Monserrat-Vila
Sílvia
S
Vilalta-Franch
Joan
J
Taylor
Joy L
JL
López-Pousa
Secundino
S
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013689:Telephone