MoCA Test: normative and diagnostic accuracy data for seniors with heterogeneous educational levels in Brazil

Abstract

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has been described as a good tool to detect cognitive impairment. The ideal MoCA cutoff score is still under debate. The aim was to provide MoCA norms and accuracy data for seniors with a lower education level, including illiterates. Methods: Data originated from an epidemiological study conducted in the municipality of Tremembe, Brazil. The Brazilian MoCA test was applied as part of the cognitive assessment in all participants. Of the 630 participants, 385 were classified as cognitively normal (CN) and were included in the normative data set, 110 individuals were diagnosed with dementia and 135 were classified as having cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND). Results: The total scores varied significantly according to age and education among the three diagnostic groups: CN, CIND and dementia (p < 0.001). To distinguish participants with CN from dementia, the best MoCA cutoff was 15 points (sensitivity 90%, specificity 77%) and to differentiate those with CN from CIND, the MoCA cutoff was 19 points (sensitivity 84%, specificity 49%). Those scores varied according to education level. Conclusions: The MoCA test did not have a high accuracy for detecting CIND in the population with a low educational level. Nevertheless, this tool may be used to detect dementia, especially in individuals with more than five years of education, if a lower cutoff score is adopted.

Influence of Social and Demographic Factors on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) Test in Rural Population of North-Eastern Greece

“…The effect of age on performance in the total MoCAscore was statistically significant, a finding that is consistent with previous studies [ 13 , 15 , 17 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. In healthy group, younger adults performed better in the visuospatial ability, which gradually decreases as the age increases.…”

Análise da fluência verbal semântica em idosos altamente escolarizados

“…Os 31 idosos foram selecionados entre 45 participantes de um projeto envolvendo um programa de treino cognitivo. Foram incluídos os idosos com 60 anos ou mais; escolaridade igual ou superior a oito anos; falantes nativos do português brasileiro; que declararam ter boas condições de saúde, não ter histórico de abuso de drogas ou álcool, ou de distúrbios psiquiátricos ou neurológicos, ter audição e visão normais ou corrigidas, não fazer uso de medicação psicotrópica; que não tinham deterioração cognitiva (pontuação igual ou superior a 24 pontos na Avaliação Cognitiva de Montreal (Montreal Cognitive Assessment -MoCA) (24) ; não apresentavam sintomatologia sugestiva de quadro de ansiedade (pontuação inferior a 7 pontos no Inventário de Ansiedade de Beck -BAI) (25) ou depressão (pontuação inferior a 13 pontos no Inventário de Depressão de Beck -BDI-II) (26) .…”

Physical Work and Exercise Reduce the Risk of Cognitive Impairment in Rural Older Adults: A Population-based Longitudinal Study

“…to ensure that the rate of loss to follow-up remained under 10 percent. In addition, the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) and other more specific scales may have been better suited for cognitive function assessment; however, scales such as MoCA are greatly influenced by the education level of participants [33]. We used the MMSE scale to measure cognitive function instead of…”