Accuracy of the Short-Form Montreal Cognitive Assessment Chinese Versions.

Ji-Ping Tan,Xiaoxiao Wang,Shimin Zhang,Nan Li,Lu-Ning Wang,Xiaoyang Lan,Yiming Zhao,Jing Gao

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2021.687824

Abstract

Background: There is a strong need for short and effective methods to screen for cognitive impairment. Recent studies have created short forms of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (s-MoCA) in English-speaking populations. It is also important to develop a validated Chinese short version to detect cognitive impairment.Methods: Item response theory and computerized adaptive testing analytics were used to construct abbreviated MoCAs across a large neurological sample comprising 6,981 community-dwelling Chinese veterans.Results: Six MoCA items with high discrimination and appropriate difficulty were included in the s-MoCA. The Chinese short versions (sensitivity 0.89/0.90, specificity 0.72/0.77) are similar in performance to the full MoCA in identifying cognitive impairment (sensitivity 0.91, specificity 0.82).Conclusions: These short variants of the MoCA may serve as quick and effective instruments when the original MoCA cannot be feasibly administered in clinical services with a high patient burden and limited cognitive testing resources.

Highlights

There is a strong need for short and effective methods to screen for cognitive impairment
We reviewed our database of participants, who were prospectively identified and recruited with the help of the Chinese Veteran Clinical Research (CVCR) Platform for the assessment of non-communicable diseases
The item characteristic curves indicated that the probability of endorsing an item increased as an individual’s trait level increased, indicating the assumption of monotonicity

Summary

Introduction

There is a strong need for short and effective methods to screen for cognitive impairment. Dementia is the most common disabling neurological disease in people older than 65 years and affects ∼10 million people in China (GBD 2016 Dementia Collaborators, 2019) This number accounts for ∼25% of the entire population with dementia worldwide (GBD 2016 Dementia Collaborators, 2019). The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (Folstein et al, 1975) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (Nasreddine et al, 2005) are two of the most common instruments. These tests can be administered to participants and demonstrate diagnostic utility (Wang and Dong, 2018). Compared with the MMSE, the MoCA is significantly better in the detection of mild cognitive

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