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. 2013 Mar;26(1):1-5.
doi: 10.1097/WNN.0b013e31828b7d26.

Cognitive performance on the mini-mental state examination and the montreal cognitive assessment across the healthy adult lifespan

Shea Gluhm  1 , Jody Goldstein, Kiet Loc, Alexandra Colt, Charles Van Liew, Jody Corey-Bloom
Affiliations

Cognitive performance on the mini-mental state examination and the montreal cognitive assessment across the healthy adult lifespan

Shea Gluhm et al. Cogn Behav Neurol. 2013 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: We sought to compare age-related performance on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) across the adult lifespan in an asymptomatic, presumably normal, sample.

Background: The MMSE is the most commonly used brief cognitive screening test; however, the MoCA may be better at detecting early cognitive dysfunction.

Methods: We gave the MMSE and MoCA to 254 community-dwelling participants ranging in age from 20 to 89, stratified by decade, and we compared their scores using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Results: For the total sample, the MMSE and MoCA differed significantly in total scores as well as in visuospatial, language, and memory domains (for all of these scores, P<0.001). Mean MMSE scores declined only modestly across the decades; mean MoCA scores declined more dramatically. There were no consistent domain differences between the MMSE and MoCA during the third and fourth decades; however, significant differences in memory (P<0.05) and language (P<0.001) emerged in the fifth through ninth decades.

Conclusions: We conclude that the MoCA may be a better detector of age-related decrements in cognitive performance than the MMSE, as shown in this community-dwelling adult population.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest

Dr. Corey-Bloom has received personal compensation from Isis Pharmaceuticals for consulting services and has been the principal investigator on a number of clinical trials for dementia supported by Elan, Teva, Siena, Prana, Huntington Study Group, and Cure HD Initiative. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Distribution of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) total scores for all participants.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Distribution of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) total scores for all participants.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) total scores across decades.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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