Since its inception as a screening measure for MCI, other studies have found the MoCA to outperform the MMSE in screening for general cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease (PD) ( Hoops et al., 2009 Nazem et al., 2009), vascular dementia after acute stroke ( Dong et al., 2010), and Huntington disease (HD) ( Videnovic et al., 2010) as a measure sensitive to early stages of different types of dementia.Īlthough the MoCA has demonstrated its utility as a cognitive screener, there are a few caveats worth noting. More important, the positive predictive value of the MoCA is 89% for both MCI and AD. The total score ranges from 0 to 30 points, and a cut score of 26 has demonstrated very good specificity (by correctly identifying 87% of healthy participants) and excellent sensitivity when differentiating MCI (90%) and Alzheimer disease (AD) (100%) from healthy comparisons. Including more cognitive domains reduces the likelihood that impairments or disorders will be overlooked (e.g., executive dysfunction, a hallmark symptom of vascular dementia). The MoCA also improved upon the MMSE by probing more cognitive domains, including executive functioning, immediate and delayed memory, visuospatial abilities, attention, working memory, language, and orientation to time and place ( Fig. The MoCA was originally developed as a screening tool to correct the shortcomings of the widely used MMSE, which demonstrated an insensitivity to mild cognitive impairment ( Nasreddine et al., 2005). Joseph Jankovic MD, in Bradley and Daroff's Neurology in Clinical Practice, 2022 Montreal Cognitive Assessment

Moca test.pdf