Improved predictive ability of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for diagnosing dementia in a community-based study

We compared the predictive ability of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to diagnose dementia in a community-based study.

A total of 276 people aged 60 years or older were enrolled. All of the participants were administered face-to-face interview questionnaires and MoCA and MMSE examinations. The receiver operating characteristic curve method and area under curve were performed to assess the predictive ability for diagnosing dementia.

The 276 participants had a mean age of 67.9 ± 6.1 years and mean education duration of 11.4 ± 4.0 years. In general, the MoCA yielded higher AUCs (0.891) with favorable sensitivity (78 %) and excellent specificity (94 %) compared with the MMSE in differentiating the participants with and without dementia in either the total sample or all subgroups.

Our study determined a higher predictive ability in the MoCA than in the MMSE for diagnosing dementia according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria in a community-based sample with a broader range of education level.