title: Montreal Cognitive Assessment Performance among Community-Dwelling African Americans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To report descriptive and normative data for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in a population-based African American sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  The MoCA was administered to 1,419 African American participants (mean age 49.89 years, range 18-75, 64% female). After excluding those with subjective cognitive complaints (n = 301), normative data were generated by education and overlapping age ranges (n = 1,118). Pearson correlations and analysis of variance were used to examine the relationship to demographic variables, and frequency of missed items was reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total MoCA scores (mean 22.3, SD 3.9) were lower than previously published normative data derived from an elderly Caucasian Canadian population with 80% falling below the suggested cutoff (<26) for impairment. Several MoCA items were missed by a large portion of the sample, including cube drawing (72%), delayed free recall (66% <4/5 words), sentence repetition (63%), and abstraction items (45%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to examine normative performance on the MoCA specific to community-dwelling African Americans. Findings suggest that certain aspects of this measure and previously established cutoff scores may not be well-suited for some populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Heidi C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Rossetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.|Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics.
authors.forename: Laura H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Lacritz
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.|Department of Clinical Sciences, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas,  Dallas, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Linda S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Hynan
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.|Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics.
authors.forename: C Munro
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cullum
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Van Wright
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry.
authors.forename: Myron F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Weiner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards*; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Aging; Assessment; Mild cognitive impairment; Minority; Normative studies