The MoCA: well-suited screen for cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease

The authors test the suitability of the Montral Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for assessing cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease and compare it to established measures, the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson disease-Cognition (SCOPA-COG) and the standardized Mini-Mental State Examination (S-MMSE). Data were obtained from a total of 114 patients with Parkinson’s disease, including 21 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 21 with advanced Parkinson’s disease and dementia. All 3 tests were able to distinguish patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia from unimpaired patients, although the MoCA was generally more successful than the S-MMSE and at least equivalent to the SCOPA-COG. The MoCA is therefore an accurate and brief test suitable for the monitoring cognitive impairment across all stages of Parkinson’s disease.