Validity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MoCA-B) in a Dutch Memory Clinic

People with low educational levels or low literacy skills tend to obtain lower scores on cognitive screens, even in the absence of cognitive impairments, possibly resulting in false positive diagnoses. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MoCA-B) has been developed to overcome this, but studies so far are limited to low-income countries. This study examined the MoCA-B [total score and Memory Index Score (MIS)] in a European memory clinic context. Fifty-five controls, 37 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 47 dementia patients were included. Results showed that a MoCA-B total cutoff score <25 is valid for distinguishing controls from MCI or dementia patients. The MoCA-B MIS showed an acceptable diagnostic accuracy for controls versus MCI (<12) and controls versus dementia (<11). No valid cutoff score could be established for MCI versus dementia patients. Our findings show that the MoCA-B can also be validly applied in a European memory clinic setting.