Italians do it worse. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) optimal cut-off scores for people with probable Alzheimer's disease and with probable cognitive impairment.
Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) is a test providing a brief screening for people with cognitive impairment due to aging or neurodegenerative syndromes. In Italy, as in the rest of the world, several validation studies of MoCA have been carried out. This study compared, for the first time in Italy, a sample of people with probable Alzheimer's Disease (AD) with healthy counterparts. The study also compared two community-dwelling groups of aged participants with and without probable cognitive impairment, as discriminated by two cut-off points of adjusted MMSE score. All the comparisons were carried out according to ROC statistics. Optimal cutoff for a diagnosis of probable AD was a MoCA score ≤14. Optimal cutoff for the discrimination of probable cognitive impairment was a MoCA score ≤17 (associated to MMSE cutoff of 23.8). Results confirm the substantial discrepancy in cut-off points existing between Italian and other international validation studies, showing that Italian performance on MoCA seems to be globally lower than that in other Countries. Characteristics of population might explain these results.
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Study Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy. andrea.bosco@uniba.it.
Andrea
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9458-3993
A
Bosco
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Study Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy.
Giuseppina
G
Spano
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Study Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy.
Alessandro O
AO
Caffò
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Study Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy.
Antonella
A
Lopez
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Study Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy.|Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, University of Study Bari, Bari, Italy.
Ignazio
I
Grattagliano
Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Study Bari, Via Crisanzio 42, 70122, Bari, Italy.
Giuseppe
G
Saracino
Associazione Alzheimer Bari Onlus, Centro Alzheimer "Don Tonino Bello", Bari, Italy.
Katia
K
Pinto
The Hague University of Applied Sciences, The Hague, The Netherlands.
Frans
F
Hoogeveen
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari, Corso Italia 23, Bari, Italy.
Giulio E
GE
Lancioni
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D000073216:Mental Status and Dementia Tests / Q000592:standards*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011336:Probability
Alzheimer’s disease; Elderly; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; Neuropsychological assessment; Propensity score matching analysis