Concurrent validity of the short version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) for patients with stroke

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was developed by Nasreddine et al. in 1996, and was initially used and validated to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild forms of Alzheimer’s disease¹. Recent evidence has demonstrated that the MoCA is, at the present moment, the best screening tool for MCI (pooled sensitivity, 89%; pooled specificity, 75%)², and that it is also an excellent screening tool for post-stroke cognitive impairment (pooled sensitivity, 81%; pooled specificity, 79%)³. Although MoCA is primarily designed as a cognitive screening tool, it is still relatively time consuming (taking approx. 15 min), with limited feasibility for use with patients with either low education levels, or with unstable conditions (e.g., frailty, severe attention deficits, and mind-wandering)⁴. In recent years, there has been an emerging interest in concentrating the most useful…