Evaluation of Available Cognitive Tools Used to Measure Mild Cognitive Decline: A Scoping Review
Nutrients
Chun, C. T., Seward, K., et al. (2021).
Nutrients, 13(11).
This systematic review investigates the psychometric performance (i.e., specificity, sensitivity, validity, reliability) of cognitive tools for identifying mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in adults, 45 years and older.
The Six-Item Cognitive Impairment Test (6CIT), the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; with the cut-offs of ≤24/22/19/15.5), the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE; with the cut-off of ≤26), and the Hong Kong Brief Cognitive Test (HKBC) demonstrate good discrimination of subtle cognitive changes related to MCI and versatile performance in terms of their psychometric properties, administration time, and delivery methods. While widely generalizable, the MoCA and MMSE demonstrate bias related to educational attainment levels, though the MoCA-Basic shows less dependence on literacy levels. The Visual Cognitive Assessment Test (VCAT) provides a visual-based cognitive tool intended to overcome language and cultural barriers and shows promise as a good cognitive tool, though the administration time is long (i.e., 15 to 20 minutes). The Self-Administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE) shows promise due to its ability to be administered digitally. While the 4-point Clock Drawing Test (CDT) offers quick and easy administration, this tool requires further validation for identifying MCI. The authors note the limited evidence available and the lack of quality appraisal conducted on the included studies. Additional research on MCI cognitive screening tools for different populations and environments is warranted.
