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MMSE and MoCA in Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies: a multicenter 1-year follow-up study

  • Neurology and Preclinical Neurological Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are the most commonly used scales to test cognitive impairment in Lewy body disease (LBD), but there is no consensus on which is best suited to assess cognition in clinical practice and most sensitive to cognitive decline. Retrospective cohort study of 265 LBD patients [Parkinson’s disease (PD) without dementia (PDnD, N = 197), PD with dementia (PDD, N = 40), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB, N = 28)] from an international consortium who completed both the MMSE and MoCA at baseline and 1-year follow-up (N = 153). Percentage of relative standard deviation (RSD%) at baseline was the measure of inter-individual variance, and estimation of change (Cohen’s d) over time was calculated. RSD% for the MoCA (21 %) was greater than for the MMSE (13 %) (p = 0.03) in the whole group. This difference was significant only in PDnD (11 vs. 5 %, p < 0.01), but not in PDD (30 vs. 19 %, p = 0.37) or DLB (15 vs. 14 %, p = 0.78). In contrast, the 1-year estimation of change did not differ between the two tests in any of the groups (Cohen’s effect <0.20 in each group). MMSE and MoCA are equal in measuring the rate of cognitive changes over time in LBD. However, in PDnD, the MoCA is a better measure of cognitive status as it lacks both ceiling and floor effects.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to Pablo Martinez-Martin for helping with statistical analysis

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Correspondence to Roberta Biundo.

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All authors gave final approval of this version of the manuscript to be published. We can assure that there is no one else who fulfils the criteria but has not been included as an author.

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This working group is funded by the Research Council of Norway, Norway under the aegis of JPND.

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The authors have no competing interest to declare.

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On behalf of the DLB consortium.

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Biundo, R., Weis, L., Bostantjopoulou, S. et al. MMSE and MoCA in Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies: a multicenter 1-year follow-up study. J Neural Transm 123, 431–438 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1517-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-016-1517-6

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