Validity of the Spanish version of the quick mild cognitive impairment screen (Qmci-S)

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Geriatrics
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Accurate cognitive screening is crucial for early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.
• The Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Q-mci) screen is a brief tool, but its Spanish version (Q-mci-S) required validation.
• Existing cognitive assessments may have limitations in time efficiency for primary care settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the Spanish Q-mci-S compared to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).
• To assess the Q-mci-S's validity and reliability in a Spanish-speaking primary care population.
• To determine the time efficiency of the Q-mci-S versus the MoCA.

Main Methods:

• A cohort of 337 patients aged 55 years and older was recruited from primary care centers in Barcelona, Spain.
• Participants were classified into normal cognition (NC), MCI, or dementia based on comprehensive neuropsychological testing.
• Diagnostic accuracy was measured using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), adjusted for age and education.

Main Results:

• The Q-mci-S demonstrated excellent intraclass correlation (0.98), indicating high reliability.
• The Q-mci-S showed superior diagnostic accuracy (AUC 0.91) compared to MoCA (AUC 0.86) for differentiating cognitive impairment from normal cognition (p=0.029).
• The Q-mci-S had a significantly shorter administration time (8.6 minutes) than MoCA (12.75 minutes) (p<0.001).

Conclusions:

• The Q-mci-S exhibits excellent validity and diagnostic accuracy for cognitive impairment in Spanish-speaking primary care patients.
• The Q-mci-S is a more time-efficient screening tool than MoCA.
• Further research is recommended to solidify the Q-mci-S's role in clinical practice for cognitive screening.