The mini-mental state examination and the montreal cognitive assessment after traumatic brain injury: An early predictive study

Abstract

Primary objective: To compare results on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to those on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and to predict the outcome at discharge from the acute care setting.

Research design: A retrospective study.

Methods and procedures: The MoCA and the MMSE were administered to 214 patients with TBI during their acute care hospitalization in a Level I trauma centre. Outcome was measured with the Disability Rating Scale (DRS).

Main outcomes and results: A linear regression determined that the MoCA, the MMSE, TBI severity, education level and presence of diffuse injuries predicted 57% of the total variability of the DRS scores. The model without the MMSE had a R² of 53.7% and the model without the MoCA had a R² of 55.0%. The models without the MMSE or the MoCA had a R² of 24.9%.

Conclusions: These results indicated that the MoCA and the MMSE function as similar predictors of the DRS at discharge.

• Montreal cognitive assessment
• mini-mental state examination
• level 1 trauma centre
• outcome
• traumatic brain injury

Acknowledgements

We thank the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Center for their support.