Conversion Between the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the Mini-Mental State Examination

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are two widely used 30-point cognitive screening tools. Patients sometimes end up with MMSE results from one practice setting and MoCA results from another practice setting — depending on a particular practice's preference. MoCA is more difficult than MMSE, in part because MoCA has more visuospatial items and fewer orientation items than does MMSE; thus, MoCA scores tend to be lower than MMSE scores in any given person with cognitive impairment.

To better define corresponding scores on the two tests, Swiss researchers administered both tests (in a way that minimized carryover effects) to 800 patients with a broad range of cognitive impairment; half the pati…