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Is the Folstein's Mini-Mental test an aphasia test?

Nora Silvana Vigliecca1, Marisa Carola Peñalva, Silvia Cristina Molina

  • 1Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas de la Argentina (CONICET), Servicio de Neurología y Neurocirugía del Hospital Córdoba and Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades (CIFFyH), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Córdoba, Argentina. nsvigliecca@gmail.com

Applied Neuropsychology. Adult
|February 5, 2013
PubMed

Insights

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) may misdiagnose aphasia as dementia. Specific items on the Brief Aphasia Evaluation (BAE) closely mirror MMSE items and can differentiate brain lesion types effectively.

Area of Science:

  • Neuropsychology
  • Cognitive Assessment
  • Neurology

Background:

  • The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a widely used dementia screening tool.
  • The Brief Aphasia Evaluation (BAE) shares many items with the MMSE, particularly in orientation.
  • Potential overlap raises questions about diagnostic accuracy for conditions like aphasia.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the correlation between MMSE-like items within the BAE and the remaining BAE items.
  • To determine if these MMSE-like BAE items can differentiate patients with left cerebral lesions (LC) from those with right cerebral lesions (RC) and healthy participants (HP).

Main Methods:

  • A cohort of 109 right-handed participants (38 HP, 37 LC, 34 RC) was recruited.
  • Groups were matched for gender, age, and education.
  • Correlation and diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity/specificity) analyses were performed on BAE item performance.

Main Results:

  • A strong correlation (.90) was found between MMSE-like BAE items and other BAE items (BAE-rest).
  • MMSE-like items demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity (≥.81) in distinguishing LC patients from RC patients and HP.
  • The findings suggest a significant overlap in cognitive domains assessed.

Conclusions:

  • MMSE-like items within the BAE are highly correlated with other BAE components.
  • These items possess diagnostic utility in differentiating between specific neurological conditions.
  • There is a notable risk of misclassifying aphasia as dementia when relying solely on the MMSE.

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