Improvement of Screening Accuracy of Mini-Mental State Examination for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Non-Alzheimer's Disease Dementia by Supplementation of Verbal Fluency Performance

• Published in: Psychiatry investigation Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 44 - 51
• Main Authors: Kim, Jee Wook, Lee, Dong Young, Seo, Eun Hyun, Sohn, Bo Kyung, Choe, Young Min, Kim, Shin Gyeom, Park, Shin Young, Choo, Il Han, Youn, Jong Chul, Jhoo, Jin Hyeong, Kim, Ki Woong, Woo, Jong Inn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) Korean Neuropsychiatric Association 01.01.2014; 대한신경정신의학회
• Subjects: Original; 정신과학; Verbal fluency; Mild cognitive impairment; Mini-Mental State Examination; Non-Alzheimer's disease dementia; Screening accuracy
• ISSN: 1738-3684; 1976-3026
• DOI: 10.4306/pi.2014.11.1.44

THIS STUDY AIMED TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER THE SUPPLEMENTATION OF VERBAL FLUENCY: Animal category test (VF) performance can improve the screening ability of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia and their major subtypes. Six hundred fifty-five cognitively normal (CN), 366 MCI [282 amnestic MCI (aMCI); 84 non-amnestic MCI (naMCI)] and 494 dementia [346 Alzheimer's disease (AD); and 148 non-Alzheimer's disease dementia (NAD)] individuals living in the community were included (all aged 50 years and older) in the study. The VF-supplemented MMSE (MMSE+VF) score had a significantly better screening ability for MCI, dementia and overall cognitive impairment (MCI plus dementia) than the MMSE raw score alone. MMSE+VF showed a significantly better ability than MMSE for both MCI subtypes, i.e., aMCI and naMCI. In the case of dementia subtypes, MMSE+VF was better than the MMSE alone for NAD screening, but not for AD screening. The results support the usefulness of VF-supplementation to improve the screening performance of MMSE for MCI and NAD.