Is the Folstein's Mini-Mental test an aphasia test?
The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is recognized as a valid screening for dementia. It consists of 29 verbal items from a total of 30. The Brief Aphasia Evaluation (BAE) includes 10 aphasia and 12 orientation items, which are similar to most of the MMSE items. It was studied whether those BAE items (MMSE-like): (a) correlate with the rest of the BAE items (BAE-rest), and (b) differentiate patients with left cerebral lesions (LC) from both patients with right cerebral lesions (RC) and healthy participants (HP). A sample of 109 right-handed volunteers (38 HP, 37 LC, and 34 RC) was studied. The three groups were matched according to gender, age, and education. Patients were similar in multiple variables. The correlation between MMSE-like and BAE-rest was .90. MMSE-like showed a sensitivity and specificity of .81 or above to identify the LC from the other two groups. There is a risk for misdiagnosing aphasia as dementia with the MMSE.
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la Argentina (CONICET), Servicio de Neurología y Neurocirugía del Hospital Córdoba and Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades (CIFFyH), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina. nsvigliecca@gmail.com
Nora Silvana
NS
Vigliecca
Marisa Carola
MC
Peñalva
Silvia Cristina
SC
Molina
Javier Alfredo
JA
Voos
Marcelo Rinaldo
MR
Vigliecca
D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results