Using the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status and Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment for Evaluating Vascular Cognitive Impairment

See related article, p 2952 use of telemedicine for the assessment and follow-up of patients who have suffered a stroke or other neurological conditions has increased dramatically over the past decade. There are several compelling reasons for this, including the need for initial screening and rapid clinical decision making and triage. Telemedicine may also reduce costs associated with routine follow-up visits, increase the number of cases that can be followed by the limited number of neurologists with stroke specialty available in some localities, and improve access to health care for disabled patients, particularly those living far from specialized stroke services.1 In this context, telephone assessment measures of cognitive functions have gained in popularity, providing clinicians with a way of conducting an initial evaluation of patients remotely or before coming to the hospital or outpatient office for more detailed assessments. The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS)2 has been used for patients with reported changes in cognitive function to determine whether dementia or less severe mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is present, with accuracy that may depend on the severity of impairment.3 This type of assessment has been particularly useful for research studies in which the goal is to exclude individuals with early stage dementia and possible neurodegenerative disease or to help identify potential study participants with cognitive dysfunction to be confirmed in follow-up face-to-face detailed cognitive assessments. The Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA), which was developed as an alternative to the TICS, provides a means of assessing mental status based on the parts of the MoCA that can be administered over the phone.4 The MoCA and its telephone-based versions may have particular clinical value for the assessment of patients with nonamnestic MCI, who can have greater impairments related to attention and executive functioning.5 Despite the …