Lower Cutoff Points for Montreal Cognitive Assessment Needed
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 17, 2024 -- The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) cutpoints for identifying mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia are inappropriately high in a diverse community setting, yielding a high false-positive rate, according to a study published online Jan. 10 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Marnina B. Stimmel, Ph.D., from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, and colleagues examined the utility and discriminative validity of the Spanish and English MoCA versions to identify cognitive impairment among diverse community-dwelling older adults. The analysis included 231 older adults (aged 65 years and older; 43 percent Hispanic and 39 percent Black/African American) with cognitive concerns attending outpatient primary care.
The researchers found that neuropsychological assessment identified 90 participants as cognitively normal with subjective cognitive concerns (average MoCA, 19.9), 133 with MCI (average MoCA, 16.6), and eight with dementia (average MoCA, 10.6). The mean English MoCA average was 18.6 versus 16.7 for Spanish. There was a high false-positive rate using the published cutpoint ≤23 for MCI (79 percent). Using the English MoCA, ≤18.5 was identified as the score to identify MCI or dementia (65 percent sensitivity; 77 percent specificity) and ≤16.5 for the Spanish MoCA (64 percent sensitivity; 73 percent specificity).
"Lower Spanish and English MoCA cutpoints may improve diagnostic accuracy for identifying cognitive impairment in this group, highlighting the need for the creation and validation of accurate cognitive screeners for ethnoculturally and linguistically diverse older adults," the authors write.
One author disclosed ties to MedRhythms.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted January 2024
Read this next
Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam Improves Detection of Cognitive Issues in Primary Care
TUESDAY, July 2, 2024 -- A self-administered gerocognitive examination (SAGE) is easily incorporated into primary care provider (PCP) visits, and its use significantly increases...
Emergence of Psychosis in Alzheimer Disease Linked to Elevations in p-tau181
MONDAY, July 1, 2024 -- For individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD), the emergence of psychosis is associated with elevations in levels of plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine...
Lower Cognitive Function in Adolescence Linked to Stroke Risk
FRIDAY, June 28, 2024 -- Lower cognitive function in adolescence is associated with increased risk of early-onset stroke, according to a study published online June 27 in the...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.