TITLE:
Ability of the Mini-Mental State Examination to Predict the Neuropsychological Performance of Hispanic Patients with Minor Neurocognitive Disorder
AUTHORS:
Jorge A. Herrera Pino, Norella S. Jubiz Bassi, Jose Armas, Nora Dieguez
KEYWORDS:
Mini-Mental State Examination, Neuropsychological Evaluation, Minor Neurocognitive Disorder, Mild Cognitive Impairment
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.5 No.5,
April
9,
2014
ABSTRACT:
The
Mini-Mental State Examination is perhaps the most frequently used instrument to
determine level of cognitive functioning. However, while it is cited in a wide
range of research studies, it is not necessarily the focus of study itself. The
purpose of this study was to establish the ability of the MMSE total score to
predict the level of neurocognitive functioning of two samples of Hispanic patients
with minor neurocognitive disorder in a battery of neuropsychological tests.
Two samples of patients, one obtained in 2009 and a second one in 2013 were
grouped into high scoring and low scoring in the MMSE. The results showed that
the MMSE total score was predictive of the performance of both samples in
neuropsychological tests designed to assess attention, language, non-verbal
memory, and visual-constructional praxis. Scores in an auditory verbal memory
task was not predicted by the total score of the MMSE. It was concluded that
the MMSE could serve as a very adequate instrument to predict neurocognitive functioning
in patients with memory complaints. The consistency of findings between the two
independent samples gave further credence to this assertion.