When is the mmse used

Assessing many of the same areas as the MMSE, the MoCA is a little more in depth and includes tasks such as a clock-drawing test and a trail test connecting the dots. It seems to be a little better at looking in depth at some of the deficits that the MMSE might not pick up. Like any test, especially those assessing cognitive abilities, the thought of participating can make older adults anxious. Physicians say caretakers and other professionals can help put their patients at ease by stressing that these tests are only meant to help.

They are both brief, though the MMSE is a little shorter, taking about seven to eight minutes to administer. Rockville, Md. The Mini-Mental State Examination: a comprehensive review. J Am Geriatr Soc. Practical guidelines for the recognition and diagnosis of dementia. J Am Board Fam Med. Neurocognitive disorders. Arlington, Va. Accessed March 30, Alzheimer's Association recommendations for operationalizing the detection of cognitive impairment during the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit in a primary care setting.

Alzheimers Dement. This series is coordinated by Corey D. This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP.

The mini mental state examination MMSE is a commonly used set of questions for screening cognitive function [ 1 ]. This examination is not suitable for making a diagnosis but can be used to indicate the presence of cognitive impairment , such as in a person with suspected dementia or following a head injury [ 2 ].

The MMSE is far more sensitive in detecting cognitive impairment than the use of informal questioning or overall impression of a patient's orientation. Before administering the MMSE it is important to make the patient comfortable and to establish a rapport.

Praising success may help to maintain the rapport and is acceptable. However, persisting on items the patient finds difficult should be avoided. The MMSE was originally distributed without cost but the current copyright holders are Psychological Assessment Resources PAR who "will not grant permission to include or reproduce an entire test or scale in any publication including dissertations and theses or on any website".

All users will need to purchase the tests from PAR [ 6 ]. We regret, therefore, that we have removed further details of the test from this site. If the score is below 25, the result is usually considered to be abnormal indicating possible cognitive impairment.

Impairment may be classified as follows:. Your doctor or healthcare professional will allow for limitations in interpreting MMSE scores. This can cause a misleading result.

Sometimes, cultural differences affect the score. The MMSE may be repeated to check for changes in cognition over time. A deterioration in an MMSE score might prompt your doctor or healthcare provider to ask more questions or arrange other tests. Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content. Authors' conclusions: Our meta-analysis is limited by the small number of studies, imprecision, inconsistencies between studies and likelihood of bias.