title: Cognitive assessment in proximity to acute ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack: comparison of the montreal cognitive assessment test and mindstreams computerized cognitive assessment battery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Even mild stroke survivors may sometimes experience residual cognitive damage. No consensus has emerged about which cognitive test is most appropriate for the diagnosis of poststroke cognitive impairment. We aim to compare a computerized battery of neuropsychological tests for memory, attention and executive functions (MindStreams®) with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to detect mild-to-moderate cognitive impairments in poststroke patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects enrolled to the TABASCO (Tel Aviv Brain Acute Stroke Cohort) study, a prospective study which includes consecutive first-ever mild-to-moderate stroke patients, were included. All participants underwent neurological and cognitive evaluations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 454 patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke are reported. Their mean MoCA and MindStreams scores were lower than normal; however, the TIA group presented significantly better scores using either method. The correlation between the MoCA and the computerized global score was 0.6 (p < 0.001). A significant correlation was found between the subcategory scores (executive function, memory and attention). However, the MoCA identified many more subjects with low scores (<26) compared to the MindStreams (70.6 vs. 15.7%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that either of the modalities alone is sensitive enough for identifying subtle cognitive impairment and none picks up substantially more cognitive losses than the other in patients with cerebrovascular disease.
authors.affiliation: Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shopin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shenhar-Tsarfaty
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ben Assayag
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hallevi
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Korczyn
authors.forename: N M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Bornstein
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Auriel
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020521:Stroke / Q000523:psychology*