[The Mini Mental Status test inadequate as screening test for XXXX in a neurological department].

@entity1 @entity303 @entity73 @entity3257 @entity10843
OBJECTIVE: To study the validity of the Mini-mental state (MMS) in a neurological population. DESIGN: Comparing the results of a neuropsychological examination and the MMS score. SETTING: Departments of Neurology/Neuropsychology of the University Hospital Leiden. METHODS: One hundred and forty-seven @entity1 participated in the study. One hundred and eight @entity1 were classified into two diagnostic groups according to the deterioration index (obtained from test results of the neuropsychological examination) and DSM-III-R criteria: 63 @entity1 had @entity303 , 45 did not; the other 39 @entity1 were found to have specific @entity73 and were excluded from the group comparisons. The discriminative powers of the deterioration index and the MMS were compared; sensitivity and specificity were determined with several cut-off scores of the MMS. RESULTS: The @entity10843 had limited power to discriminate between demented and @entity3257 @entity1 . The MMS score was strongly related to premorbid intelligence, occupational level and age. Increasing the original cut-off score to 25 points improved sensitivity and specificity to 79% and 84% respectively (with the original cut-off level these were 68% and 93%). CONCLUSION: The diagnostic value of the MMS is limited, especially in @entity1 for whom a correct diagnosis is most relevant.
