Age- and education-specific reference values for the Mini-Mental and modified Mini-Mental State Examinations derived from a non-demented elderly population.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

To report age- and education-specific reference values for the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Modified Mini-Mental State (3MS) Examination.

DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Community and institutional settings in five regions across Canada.

PARTICIPANTS

7754 subjects aged 65 and over randomly chosen to take part in the Canadian Study of Health and Aging. Subjects classified as cognitively impaired or demented following a clinical and neuropsychological examination were excluded.

MEASUREMENTS

Total scores on the MMSE and 3MS, and the degree to which they are influenced by the age, sex, education, mother tongue and living environment of the subject.

RESULTS

Reference values on the two tests are reported through various descriptive statistics for five age groups and four education levels. These values decrease with age and increase with years of schooling. Test scores are also influenced by the subject's sex and mother tongue, albeit to a lesser extent. These observations led to the development of predictive equations of the performance to be expected from a 'normal' elderly subject, given his/her socio-demographic characteristics.

CONCLUSION

The use of the reference values and related predictive equations will allow the clinician to interpret a patient's performance on two widely used cognitive tests, in light of the value expected from a group of 'normal' subjects with the same sociodemographic profile.