Further studies are nevertheless needed that confirm its diagnostic values against a measure other than the MMSE.

The Italian MoCA is a valid and diagnostically sound screener for global cognitive inefficiency in non-demented PD patients. A MoCA score adjusted for age and education according to the most recent normative dataset and < 19.015 is herewith suggested as indexing cognitive impairment in this population (AUC = .92 sensitivity = .92 specificity = .80). Both raw and adjusted MoCA scores proved to be highly accurate to the aim of identifying patients with MMSE-confirmed cognitive dysfunctions. The MoCA was associated with both PD-CRS scores ( p < .001) and the vast majority of second-level cognitive measures ( ps < .003). Diagnostics were tested via receiver-operating characteristics analyses against a below-cut-off MMSE score. Construct validity was assessed against both the PD-CRS and the second-level cognitive battery.

A subsample ( N = 60) also underwent a second-level cognitive battery encompassing measures of attention/executive functioning, language, memory, praxis and visuo-spatial abilities. MethodsĪ retrospective cohort of N = 237 non-demented PD patients having been administered the MoCA was addressed, of whom N = 169 further underwent the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and N = 68 the Parkinson’s Disease Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS). This study aimed at: (1) assessing, in an Italian cohort of non-demented Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients, the construct validity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) against both first- and second-level cognitive measures (2) delivering an exhaustive and updated evaluation of its diagnostic properties.

Moca memory test scoring