Validity of Montreal Cognitive Assessment in non-english speaking patients with Parkinson's disease

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a brief and easy screening tool for accurately testing cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. We tested its validity for use in non-English (Malayalam) speaking patients with Parkinson's disease.

We developed a Malayalam (a south-Indian language) version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment and applied to 70 patients with Parkinson's disease and 60 age- and education-matched healthy controls. Metric properties were assessed, and the scores were compared with the performance in validated Malayalam versions of Mini Mental Status Examination and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Malayalam showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability and its scores correlated with Mini Mental Status Examination (patients: R = 0.70; P < 0.001; healthy controls: R = 0.26; P = 0.04) and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (patients: R = 0.8; P < 0.001; healthy controls: R = 0.52; P < 0.001) scores.

This study establishes the reliability of cross-cultural adaptation of Montreal Cognitive Assessment for assessing cognition in Malayalam-speaking Parkinson's disease patients for early screening and potential future interventions for cognitive dysfunction.