BACKGROUND

In the era of disease-modifying therapies, empowering the clinical neuropsychologist's toolkit for timely identification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is crucial.

OBJECTIVE

Here we examine the clinimetric properties of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for the early diagnosis of MCI due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD).

METHODS

Data from 48 patients with MCI-AD and 47 healthy controls were retrospectively analyzed. Raw MoCA scores were corrected according to the conventional Nasreddine's 1-point correction and demographic adjustments derived from three normative studies. Optimal cutoffs were determined while previously established cutoffs were diagnostically reevaluated.

RESULTS

The original Nasreddine's cutoff of 26 and normative cutoffs (non-parametric outer tolerance limit on the 5th percentile of demographically-adjusted score distributions) were overly imbalanced in terms of Sensitivity (Se) and Specificity (Sp). The optimal cutoff for Nasreddine's adjustment showed adequate clinimetric properties (≤23.50, Se = 0.75, Sp = 0.70). However, the optimal cutoff for Santangelo's adjustment (≤22.85, Se = 0.65, Sp = 0.87) proved to be the most effective for both screening and diagnostic purposes according to Larner's metrics. The results of post-probability analyses revealed that an individual testing positive using Santangelo's adjustment combined with a cutoff of 22.85 would have 84% post-test probability of receiving a diagnosis of MCI-AD (LR+ = 5.06).

CONCLUSIONS

We found a common (mal)practice of bypassing the applicability of normative cutoffs in diagnosis-oriented clinical practice. In this study, we identified optimal cutoffs for MoCA to be allocated in secondary care settings for supporting MCI-AD diagnosis. Methodological and psychometric issues are discussed.