Psychometric properties of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment v8.2. test: Pilot study

¹ Riga Stradiņš University, Military Medicine Research and Study Centre, Latvia
² Riga East University Hospital, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Riga
³ Riga Stradiņš University, Department of Health Psychology and Pedagogy, Latvia
⁴ Riga Stradiņš University, Department of Infectiology, Latvia
⁵ GK Neuroclinic, Latvia

Abstract

Objectives. The world is rapidly ageing and, with the increasing age, there is a potential increase in the number of patients with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. This calls for a reliable screening tool that easily and rapidly could identify the symptoms of pathological cognitive decline. As currently such tools are limited in Latvia, the objective of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the newly translated Montreal Cognitive Assessment test. Materials and Methods. Sixty-five Latvian native speakers aged 55-90 (M = 72.11, SD = 10.26) participated in the study and were divided into three groups – with diagnosis of dementia (n = 21), mild cognitive impairment (n = 18) and control group (n = 26). All participants were assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test [1], and a test-retest was conducted after 2 weeks (n = 37). Results. Almost all mean values and inter-item correlation coefficients were acceptable (.2-.8), apart from indices in the Naming task and Verbal fluency task. The items showed very high reliability (α = .95) and the test-retest reliability showed consistent results (r = .98). Conclusions. Overall, the results from the pilot study show acceptable psychometric properties; however, the pilot study should be continued and criterion validity should be tested.