title: Validity of the montreal cognitive assessment as a screen for mild cognitive impairment and dementia in African Americans.
abstract: The validity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as a screen for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia was evaluated in African Americans attending an urban outpatient memory disorders clinic. Eighty one patients ≥50 years old were administered the MoCA and neuropsychological tests. Clinicians, blinded to the MoCA scores, reviewed the neuropsychological findings and reports of instrumental activities of daily living and they assigned a diagnosis of normal cognition (NC; N = 16), MCI (N = 38), or dementia (N = 27). The MoCA scores of the 3 groups were significantly different (NC > MCI > dementia). Using cutoff scores of ≤24 points for MCI and ≤22 points for dementia, the MoCA had .95 sensitivity and .63 specificity for MCI and .96 sensitivity and .88 specificity for dementia. The MoCA is a valid and cost-effective screen for cognitive impairment in African Americans but with a higher likelihood of falsely classifying persons with NC as having MCI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA fgoldst@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Felicia C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Angela V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Ashley
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alexeeva
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Lavezza
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zanders
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Veronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: King
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000208:ethnology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: African Americans; MoCA; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; dementia; mild cognitive impairment