Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test: normalization and standardization for Spanish population

Introduction. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a brief screening test that assesses the general cognitive state. It has become very popular and useful as an alternative resource for the traditional Mini-Mental State Examination. Aim. To normalize and to standardize the MoCA taking into account the sociodemographic characteristics of the Spanish population (INE data, 2012). Subjects and methods. The present study is part of the Normacog Project. Seven hundred participants were recruited (older than 18 years old). The effect of age, level of education and sex was analyzed on the performance of MoCA and percentiles and scalar score for nine ranges of age and scalar score adjusted by the level of education. Results. Results showed a significant effect of age, level of education and sex on the cognitive performance of MoCA. However, sex was only significant in two domains (attention and delayed recall). Age, education and sex explained from 1.0% to 32.3% of the variance of the performance. The older participants with lower level of formal education obtained the worse performance shown in MoCA. Percentiles and scalar score for each range of age, and scalar score adjusted by the level of education were obtained. Conclusion. The normative data of the MoCA is provided taking into account the Spanish sociodemographic characteristics for adults in Spain and the cut-off to distinguish between normal cognitive performance and mild cognitive impairment according to different range of ages have been proposed.