The Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Cognitively-Intact Elderly: A Case for Age-adjusted Cutoffs

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Oren, Noga^{a; b; c; d; 1} | Yogev-Seligmann, Galit^{a; b; 1} | Ash, Elissa^{c; d} | Hendler, Talma^{a; b; e; f} | Giladi, Nir^{a; c; d} | Lerner, Yulia^{a; b; d; *}

Affiliations: [a] Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel | [b] Functional Brain Center, Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel | [c] Center for Memory and Attention Disorders, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel | [d] Department of Neurology, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel | [e] Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel | [f] School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Dr. Yulia Lerner, Functional Brain Center, Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Tel.: +972 3 6973953; Fax: +972 3 6973080; E-mail: yulia.lerner@gmail.com.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally to this work.

Abstract: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a widely used screening test for evaluation of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), with a single cutoff for all ages. We examined whether it is associated with age in a sample of cognitively-intact elderly (CIE). The average MoCA score was negatively correlated with age and was significantly higher for younger than older CIE. Additionally, 42% of the older elderly fell below the proposed MCI cutoff score, although all subjects were CIE. Thus, cognitive abilities captured by the MoCA test decrease with age, even in CIE. Therefore, cutoff scores by age for the MoCA are needed.

Keywords: Aging, cognition, MOCA, screening, MCI

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-140774

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 19-22, 2015