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Effect of Education on the Mini‐Mental State Examination as a Screening Test for Dementia
Author(s) -
Uhlmann Richard F,
Larson Eric B
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1991.tb04454.x
Subject(s) - dementia , medicine , test (biology) , receiver operating characteristic , mini–mental state examination , educational attainment , gerontology , mental state , psychiatry , disease , paleontology , economics , biology , economic growth
We studied whether Mini‐Mental State Examination (MMSE) norms for detecting dementia in elderly outpatients vary according to educational attainment. Subjects were 109 elderly outpatients with Alzheimer's dementia and 100 non‐demented outpatient controls. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) of the MMSE were examined among three strata of educational attainment: middle school, high school, and college/graduate school. MMSE ROC curve areas were .95–.96 in the three educational strata. Assuming a dementia prevalence of 10%–30%, the most accurate lower limits of normal for MMSE scores and their attendent sensitivities and specificities were 21 for middle school (.82/.94), 23 for high school (.79/.97), and 24 for college/graduate school (83/1.00) attainment. These norms accurately classified over 90% of subjects in all three educational strata. We conclude that education‐specific norms optimize performance of the MMSE as a screening test for Alzheimer's dementia in elderly outpatients.