Trajectories of MMSE and MoCA scores across the healthy adult lifespan in the Italian population

Background This study compares the performance at the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) across the healthy adult lifespan in an Italian population sample. Methods The MMSE and MoCA were administered to 407 Italian healthy native-speakers (165 males; age range 20-93 years; education range 4-25 years). A generalized Negative Binomial mixed model was run to profile MMSE and MoCA scores across 8 different age classes (<= 30; 31-40; 41-50; 51-60; 61-70; 71-80; 81-85; >= 86) net of education and sex. Results MMSE and MoCA total scores declined with age (p < 0.001), with the MoCA proving to be "more difficult" than the MMSE (p < 0.001). The Age*Test interaction (p < 0.001) indicates that the MoCA proved to profile a sufficiently linear involutional trend in cognition with advancing age and to be able to detect poorer cognitive performances in individuals aged >= 71 years. By contrast, MMSE scores failed in capturing the expected age-related trajectory, reaching a plateau in the aforementioned age classes. Discussion The MoCA seems to be more sensitive than the MMSE in detecting age-related physiological decline of cognitive functioning across the healthy adult lifespan. The MoCA might be therefore more useful than the MMSE as a test for general cognitive screening aims.