Original Article
Which Mini-Mental State Exam Items Can Be Used to Screen for Delirium and Cognitive Impairment?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2005.05.001Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Abstract

Cognitive impairment is common in palliative care patients, but it is frequently undetected. The clinical consequence is that psychiatric states such as delirium, which often present with cognitive impairment, are inadequately treated. A short and simple questionnaire for screening of cognitive impairment is required for these patients, in order to proceed with more advanced testing if necessary. In this study, we explored the results from two samples of patients (n = 290 and n = 217) who had completed the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Cases of cognitive impairment are considered indicated by an MMSE score of less than 24 of the total 30. We found that caseness could be fairly accurately screened by using four of the original 20 MMSE items, and that a six-item questionnaire further greatly improved the discrimination.

Key Words

Mini-Mental State Examination
MMSE
palliative care
delirium
cognitive impairment

Cited by (0)