Stability of Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment: Potential Influence of Practice Effect

BACKGROUND: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a standard test for screening and monitoring cognitive functions.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the two-year changes in MoCA scores in older adults.

METHODS: Fifty-seven participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 87 participants with normal cognition completed the baseline and two-year follow-up assessments. Apart from MoCA, tests on visuospatial judgment, memory, and motor-related executive function were administered.

RESULTS: The results identified three MCI subgroups based on the differential changes in MoCA scores. They were the consistently low, consistently high, and low-to-high between-time performances. These heterogeneous test performances are on contrary to the significant deteriorations in executive function and finger dexterity across all subgroups. Repeated exposure to MoCA tests during the follow-up period was found to be a plausible indicator of the MCI subgroup categorization.

CONCLUSION: Findings raise concerns over adopting brief clinical instrument for repeated testing, such as MoCA, for monitoring MCI conditions among older adults.