Extract

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a widely used cognitive screening tool in Parkinson's disease (PD) and is sensitive to PD-mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia. The relationship of the MoCA to difficulties in activities of daily living in PD more particularly has yet to be explored. Objective: The aim of this study is to explore how caregiver reported everyday impairments correlated with associated cognitive domains from the MoCA as well as explore the sensitivity and specificity of this instrument to daily difficulties in a PD sample. It was hypothesized that MoCA subscales (i.e. Language, Memory, Visual, and Executive) would correlate with respective everyday impairments as measured by the Everyday Cognition (ECog) questionnaire and would be sensitive to everyday impairment observed in patients with PD. Method: A convenience sample of 49 patients with PD (67% male; 96% Caucasian; 41% Hoehn & Yahr Stage III) were administered the MoCA, while an informant (e.g., significant other or caregiver) completed the ECog. Results: A weak relationship between the MoCA total score and several domains of everyday cognitive problems as perceived by caregivers was revealed. The MoCA memory subscale was most strongly related to caregiver reported daily difficulties. The sensitivity of the MoCA total score to everyday cognitive problems was modest with poor specificity. Conclusion: Results indicated the MoCA has only modest relationship with more subtle everyday problems. Implications and future directions for cognitive assessment in PD are discussed.

You do not currently have access to this article.