The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) from a language perspective: an analysis of test interaction

Figures & data

Table 1. Characteristics of participants with aphasia.

Participant (SLP)	Age	Sex	Primary aphasia symptom	MMSE score	Previous occupation	Education	Severity of aphasia	Clinical description
A1 (SLP1)	56	F	expressive	29/30	Technical operator	Upper secondary school	mild	Work part-time with adjusted tasks
A2 (SLP2)	73	M	expressive	27/30	Saw mill worker	Secondary school	moderate	Apraxia of speech
A3 (SLP3)	69	M	receptive	18/30	Medical doctor	University	moderate	Very fast speech rate
A4 (SLP3)	56	F	expressive	6/30	Industry operator	Upper secondary school	severe	Uses a filofax as a communication aid
A5 (SLP1)	66	M	receptive	6/30	Officer	University	moderate-severe	Dependent on aphasia-ID and similar aids
A6 (SLP3)	51	F	expressive	15/30	Nurse’s assistant	Secondary school	moderate	Spanish as first language
A7 (SLP1)	78	M	expressive	23/30	Travel agency manager	Upper secondary school	moderate-severe	Very slow speech rate
A8 (SLP1)	60	M	receptive	17/30	Machinist	Secondary school	moderate	Work part-time with adjusted tasks
A9 (SLP3)	63	F	expressive	10/30	Machinist	Secondary school	severe	Apraxia of speech
A10 (SLP1)	98	F	expressive	24/30	Shop assistant	Secondary school	mild-moderate	Lives in own housing without any support

Information about primary aphasia symptom and severity of aphasia assembled from the participants' medical journals.

Table 2. Characteristics of participants with dementia.

Participant (SLP)	Age	Sex	Dementia diagnosis	MMSE score	Level of cognitive impairment	Previous occupation	Education	Clinical description
D1 (SLP1)	73	F	Alzheimers	26/30	mild	Receptionist	Secondary school	Little disease insight
D2 (SLP1)	75	F	Alzheimers	18/30	severe	Industry worker	Secondary school	Slow speech rate
D3 (SLP4)	79	M	Alzheimers	8/30	severe	Teacher	University	Talkative and makes a lot of jokes in conversation
D4 (SLP4)	74	M	Mixed dementia	9/30	severe	Welder	Secondary school	Hungarian as first language
D5 (SLP4)	72	M	Alzheimers	18/30	severe	Repairer (janitor)	Upper secondary school	Very active, visits gym several times a week
D6 (SLP1)	72	M	Alzheimers	18/30	severe	Marketer/teacher	University	Very slow speech rate
D7 (SLP1)	75	M	Alzheimers	13/30	severe	Forester	University	Uses hearing aid
D8 (SLP1)	83	M	Alzheimers	22/30	severe	Farmer	Secondary school	Tested in his own home, dependent on his wife
D9 (SLP5)	79	M	Vascular dementia	13/30	severe	Electrician (own firm)	Upper secondary school	Has close to tears several times in conversation
D10 (SLP5)	84	M	Alzheimers	17/30	severe	Truck technician	Secondary school	Expresses a lot of doubt regarding his answers

Level of cognitive impairment is based on the participants' MMSE results.

Table 3. Participants with aphasia’s and participants with dementia’s mean and median results followed by the highest/lowest score on each of the MMSE categories.

MMSE category	Orientation (10)	Registration (3)	Attention and calculation (5)
Participants with aphasia	mean 6.7 median 7.5 10/2	mean 2.1 median 3 3/0	mean 1.6 median 1 5/0
Participants with dementia	mean 6 median 6 10/4	mean 2.6 median 3 3/1	mean 1.1 median 0 5/0
MMSE category	Recall (3)	Language (8)	Copying (1)
Participants with aphasia	mean 1.3 median 1.5 3/0	mean 5.1 median 5 8/3	mean 0.7 median 1 1/0
Participants with dementia	mean 0.7 median 0,5 2/0	mean 5.6 median 6 8/1	mean 0.2 median 0 1/0

The maximum score for each MMSE category in brackets