The Importance of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) in Detecting Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)

Dementia, one of the most devastating diseases affecting older adults, has become a pressing concern for public health and economic issues worldwide. The epidemic of aging-related diseases is rapidly rising in China, with approximately 178 million older adults by 2010, according to the latest National Population Census. The growing aging population in China highlights the urgent need for effective screening tools to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a precursor to dementia.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) has been widely used as a screening tool for MCI globally. However, its applicability and effectiveness may vary across different cultures and languages. In China, the MoCA-BJ version was developed to assess cognitive function among older adults. Our study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and diagnostic accuracy of the MoCA-BJ in detecting MCI among Chinese older adults.

Our results showed that the MoCA-BJ demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and diagnostic accuracy when compared with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). However, we also found that regional differences disappeared after controlling for demographic variables such as age and education. The delayed recall sub-domain was identified as the best index to differentiate MCI from normal controls.

The MoCA-BJ showed optimal sensitivity (68.7%) and specificity (63.9%) when the cut-off score was lowered to 22, while under the recommended cut-off score of 26, it demonstrated excellent sensitivity (90.4%) and fair specificity (31.3%). These findings suggest that the MoCA-BJ can be a useful screening tool for MCI among Chinese older adults.

In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of the MOCA in detecting MCI among Chinese older adults. The MoCA-BJ is an acceptable tool for MCI screening in both urban and rural regions of Beijing, but further modifications to test items may be necessary to improve its applicability and effectiveness in this population. The results of this study provide valuable insights into the use of the MOCA as a screening tool for MCI among Chinese older adults and underscore the need for culturally sensitive and linguistically adapted assessments in dementia research.

The montreal cognitive assessment moca