Background:The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is used to evaluate multiple cognitive domains in elderly individuals. However, it is influenced by demographic characteristics that have yet to be adequately considered.Objective:The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of age, education, and sex on the MoCA total score and to provide demographically adjusted normative values for a German-speaking population.Methods:Subjects were recruited from a registry of healthy volunteers. Cognitive health was defined using the Mini-Mental State Examination (score ≥27/30 points) and the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer’s Disease-Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (total score ≥85.9 points). Participants were assessed with the German version of the MoCA. Normative values were developed based on regression analysis. Covariates were chosen using the Predicted Residual Sums of Squares approach.Results:The final sample consisted of 283 participants (155 women, 128 men; mean (SD) age = 73.8 (5.2) years; education = 13.6 (2.9) years). Thirty-one percent of participants scored below the original cut-off (<26/30 points). The MoCA total score was best predicted by a regression model with age, education, and sex as covariates. Older age, lower education, and male sex were associated with a lower MoCA total score (p < 0.001).Conclusion:We developed a formula to provide demographically adjusted standard scores for the MoCA in a German-speaking population. A comparison with other MoCA normative studies revealed considerable differences with respect to selection of volunteers and methods used to establish normative data.

This study provides normative data for a novel self-administered tablet computer application that is ultimately designed to measure the individual risk for adverse postoperative cognitive outcomes in elderly patients.

The incidence of serious arrhythmias in NSTEMI patients after successful early revascularization seems to be very low.

Zusammenfassung. Eine von Ärzten oft unterschätze Befürchtung von älteren Patienten ist das Auftreten von vorübergehenden, oder sogar bleibenden, kognitiven Einbussen als Folge einer Operation. Als Anästhesist wird man mit dieser Frage oft konfrontiert, da im Allgemeinen davon ausgegangen wird, dass solche kognitive Defizite eine direkte Folge der Narkose sind. In diesem Artikel werden die möglichen kognitiven Folgen einer Operation und ihr zeitlicher Verlauf dargestellt. Zusätzlich werden die Risikofaktoren und die Pathophysiologie, soweit bekannt, diskutiert. Im Rahmen dieser Übersicht sprechen wir von transienten Störungen bei kognitiven Problemen, die in den ersten drei bis maximal sechs Monaten nach einer Operation auftreten. Die beiden Formen der transienten postoperativen kognitiven Störungen, die in der Praxis unterschieden werden, sind das postoperative Delir und die postoperative kognitive Dysfunktion. Störungen, welche 12 bis 24 Monate nach Operationen persistieren, werden als permanent definiert.