Italians do it worse. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) optimal cut-off scores for people with probable Alzheimer’s disease and with probable cognitive impairment

Abstract

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.

The role of visuo‐spatial abilities in environment learning from maps and navigation over the adult lifespan

“…The exclusion criteria adopted were as follows: a history of any disease capable of causing cognitive and/or motor impairments (see Crook et al ., ), as established from a semi‐structured interview; and, for adults from 55 to 84 years old, a score of less than 26 in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al ., ). We considered older adults scoring ≥ 26 (a restrictive criterion for Italian samples; e.g., Bosco et al ., ) to ensure that their cognitive functioning was comparable with that of the other age groups.…”

Path Learning From Navigation in Aging: The Role of Cognitive Functioning and Wayfinding Inclinations

“…The study involved 64 healthy adults from 60 to 84 years old (34 females; M age = 70.55, SD = 7.04) who volunteered to take part and were recruited at recreation centers. A MoCA score of at least 22 (Nasreddine et al, 2005; M = 26.53, SD = 1.96) was needed in order to include only typically-aging individuals (see Bosco et al, 2017, for the Italian normative sample). Participants had attended school from 8 to 13 years old (M = 10.42, SD = 2.20), as is typical in Italy for this cohort (see ISTAT, 2011).…”

Regression-based normative data and equivalent scores for Trail Making Test (TMT): an updated Italian normative study

“…As for convergent validity, adjusted MMSE total scores [23,24] were positively correlated with adjusted MoCA 2 (r= 0.69, p< .001) and 3 total scores (r= 0.61, p< .001).…”

“…The MoCA 1 has been translated into Italian [19], and the results of independent studies supported its validity for use in clinical practice [20][21][22][23]. In order to foster the employment of alternate forms of MoCA in clinical practice, Santangelo et al [24] have translated the English versions of MoCA 2 and 3 into Italian, but until now no normative data have been made available.…”