Title |
The Mini-Mental State Examination in an outpatient population: influence of literacy
|
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Published in |
Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, January 2011
|
DOI | 10.1590/s0004-282x1994000100001 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
P H Bertolucci, S M Brucki, S R Campacci, Y Juliano |
Abstract |
To assess the influence of age and education on cognitive performance in our population, 530 adults were interviewed using the MMSE (Mini-Mental Status Examination). Education level, classified as illiterate, elementary and middle (< 8 years) and high (> 8 years), was a significant predictor of performance (p < 0.0001). Nevertheless, the total scores were not significantly different among the age-groups, young (< or = 50 years), middle age 51 to 64 years) and elderly (> or = 65 years). The reference cut-off values were taken from the fifth percent lowest score for each group: illiterate, 13; elementary and middle, 18; and high, 26. When compared to 94 patients with cognitive impairment, our cut-off values achieved high sensitivity (82.4% for illiterates; 75.6% for elementary and middle; 80% for high) and specificity (97.5% for illiterate; 96.6% for elementary and middle; 95.6% for high educational level). Education-specific reference values for the MMSE are necessary in interpreting individual test results in populations of low educational level, in order to reduce the false positive results. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Brazil | 9 | 1% |
Unknown | 775 | 99% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Master | 147 | 19% |
Student > Bachelor | 147 | 19% |
Student > Postgraduate | 76 | 10% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 57 | 7% |
Student > Ph. D. Student | 51 | 7% |
Other | 102 | 13% |
Unknown | 204 | 26% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Medicine and Dentistry | 162 | 21% |
Nursing and Health Professions | 155 | 20% |
Neuroscience | 50 | 6% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 41 | 5% |
Psychology | 39 | 5% |
Other | 98 | 13% |
Unknown | 239 | 30% |