ABSTRACT
Objective To study the distribution of Montreal cognitive assessment(MoCA)scores in terms of age and educational level in Chinese residents aged 50 years and over and to offer a benchmark for a cutoff score.Methods A total of 281 residents aged 50 years or older was drawn randomly in the urban areas of Beijing,including 215 healthy elderly controls(NC)and 66 patients meeting the clinical criteria of mild cognitive impairment(MCI).The final scores for MoCA were given in the form of mean percentage distributions specific for age,sex and educational level so as to compare the validity of MMSE mini-mental state examination and MoCA in detecting MCI.By a fitting muhiple regression model the influenee of the factors on MMSE and MoCA was assessed.Results Using a cutoff score of 26.MMSE had a sensitivity of 24.2%to detect MCI.whereas MoCA detected 92.4%of the MCI subiects.We found a bivariate correlation between MoCA scores and both the factors of age and educational level(P＜0.001).Conclusions MoCA iS a brief cognitive screening tool with high sensitivity and specificity for detecting MCI as currently conceptualized in patients performing normally on MMSE.Our adiustment in the cutoff scores would improve the detection of MCI and Alzheimer'S disease by reducing the number of false negatives.MoCA scores should be used to identify current cognitive difficulties but not to make formal diagnoses.
ABSTRACT
Objective To study the offactory function test in Parkinson' s disease(PD), in order to promote the diagnosis of the PD. Methods Subjects included 95 middle-aged volunteers and 37 Pdpatients. A subjective olfactometry with T&T olfactometer was performed in all volunteers and patients.Olfactory event related potentials with isoamyl acetate were obtained in all volunteers and patients. Results The T&T olfactometer Results for the 2 sides were 4.6±1.1,4.4±1.2 in PD patients older than 70 years old and 3.9±1.7, 4.0±1.7 in those, respectively; while the data were 0.4±0.9,0.4±0.9 in volunteers older than 70 years, were 0.5±0.8,0.5±0.8 younger than 70 years old. There was a significant differencein T&T olfactometer Results between PD and volunteers (t=15.246,15.378,8.664,8.776, P<0.01). TheP2 latencies were respectively (734.9±143.2), (696.1±165.9) ms for the 2 sides in PD older than 70years, and (730.5±159.4), (719.5±159.2) ms in PD younger than 70 years;while they were (547.9±65.0), (558.5±56.3) ms, and (523.3±61.9), (526.8±62.0) ms in volunteers younger than 70 years.There was a significant difference in P2 latency between PD and volunteers (t = -3.940, -3.750,- 7. 514, - 8.205,P<0.01). Conclusions Olfactory dysfunction is an important index in PD. Olfactory function test is an useful method in the diagnosis of PD.