Impacts of education level on Montreal Cognitive Assessment and saccades in community residents from Western China

• Published in: Clinical neurophysiology Vol. 161; pp. 27 - 39
• Main Authors: Li, Hua, Peng, Anjiao, Lai, Wanlin, Wu, Junru, Ji, Shuming, Hu, Dan, Chen, Shujuan, Zhu, Chenxing, Hong, Qiulei, Zhang, Mingsha, Chen, Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.05.2024
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; China - epidemiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - diagnosis; Cognitive Dysfunction - epidemiology; Cognitive Dysfunction - physiopathology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Education level; Educational Status; Eye movement; Female; Humans; Male; Mental Status and Dementia Tests; Middle Aged; MoCA; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; Saccade; Saccades - physiology; Young Adult; China; PS; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; MoCA; Education level; FP; IQR; PHQ-9; Eye movement; DS; SD; MCI; AS; GAD-7; MMSE; Saccade; MGS; BMI
• ISSN: 1388-2457; 1872-8952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2024.02.017

[Display omitted] •Saccade is less influenced by education level than MoCA.•The effect size of education level on MoCA is 11 times greater that of saccade.•Saccade is a better cognitive screening tool for individuals from rural areas. This cross-sectional study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and saccade in discerning the cognitive function levels among community populations characterized by diverse educational backgrounds. Data from 665 Western China individuals encompassed MoCA scores and saccade performance. The study examined how education level and age influenced these assessments and highlighted the contrasting abilities of these measures in detecting cognitive abnormalities. The saccade model revealed a consistent cognitive impairment prevalence (15.5%) compared to previous clinical data (9.7% to 23.3%), while MoCA exhibited variable rates (25.1% to 52.8%). Notably, saccades and MoCA significantly diverged in detecting cognitive dysfunction. Additionally, education level had a greater impact on MoCA (effect size: 0.272) compared to saccades (0.024) affecting all MoCA sub-items, with age exerting a smaller influence on MoCA (0.037) compared to saccades (0.056). Saccades are less susceptible to the influence of education level when compared to MoCA, making saccade a potentially more suitable cognitive screening tool for rural community populations. This study represents a pioneering approach by employing saccade detection within community populations to distinguish cognitive function status.