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Determination of Mo CA Cutoff Score in Patients with Alcohol Use Disorders
Author(s) -
Ewert Valérie,
Pelletier Stéphanie,
Alarcon Régis,
Nalpas Bertrand,
DonnadieuRigole Hélène,
Trouillet Raphaël,
Perney Pascal
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/acer.13547
Subject(s) - cutoff , receiver operating characteristic , montreal cognitive assessment , cognition , medicine , alcohol , neuropsychology , area under the curve , cognitive impairment , psychometrics , gastroenterology , psychiatry , clinical psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , biochemistry , chemistry
Background The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score is a convenient and promising tool for estimating alcoholic patients’ global cognitive functioning, a major challenge for all specialized alcohol treatment centers. However, whether or not the score should be corrected for education level and whether the proposed cutoff is relevant in patients with alcohol use disorders ( AUD ) should be determined. Methods We compared the Mo CA scores in patients hospitalized for AUD with and without cognitive impairment assessed by a battery of neuropsychological (NP) tests. Sensitivity, specificity, and cutoff of the Mo CA score were analyzed using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Results Thirty‐one patients with and 25 without cognitive impairment were included in the study. There were 40 men and 16 women, with a mean age of 49.5 years. The mean uncorrected Mo CA score was 23.1 ± 3.3 in those with and 27.0 ± 1.9 in those without cognitive impairment. NP tests were significantly correlated with the Mo CA score. Uncorrected Mo CA scores identified more than 80% of the patients with a cutoff score equal to 26, to obtain similar accuracy with the corrected score required using a cutoff score equal to 27. Conclusions Our results confirm that the Mo CA test is a convenient and reliable screening tool to measure cognition defects in alcoholic patients. As using the 1‐point education adjustment increases the cutoff score by 1 point, it is suggested to use the noncorrected score and the usual cutoff, that is, 26. Being easy to administer and only moderately time‐consuming, the Mo CA score should be used extensively in addiction treatment centers.