The effects of routinely using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment on mild cognitive impairment diagnosis in geriatric psychiatry setting

Background: The overall goal of this study was to investigate whether routinely conducting the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at the beginning of the treatment has an added value. This was done by exploring MoCA outcome scores, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) diagnosis frequencies, Neuropsychological Assessment (NPA) frequencies and observing the Global Assessment Functioning (GAF) score after MCI diagnosis between patients who conducted the MoCA routinely versus non-routinely. Methods: All patients at the Functional Psychiatry Department (Altrecht) who conducted a MoCA were included. A t-test for MoCA outcome scores was used. Pearson Chi-Square was used for exploring frequencies concerning sex, MCI diagnosis and to observe whether a NPA was conducted. A Repeated Measures ANOVA was used to evaluate the differences in GAF score between the first GAF score and last GAF score. Results: The distribution of sex differed significantly among patients in the routine or non-routine group. MoCA score outcome did not differ significantly between the groups. The frequency of a MCI diagnosis differed significantly between groups. NPA frequencies differed significantly among the groups. The interaction effect between time and group (routine versus non-routine MoCA) was not significant. Conclusions: Distribution of sex was unevenly among the groups. MoCA score outcome and GAF score were found not to be significantly linked to conducting the MoCA routinely or non-routinely. However, less NPAs are conducted and MCI was diagnosed in 63% of the patients whom conducted the MoCA routinely. Thus, it can be stated that conducting the MoCA routinely has an added value in geriatric psychiatry