BACKGROUND: The Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) is widely used as a screening tool for dementia. However, it has limitations as it lacks assessment of other cognitive domains. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a 30-point test which can be administered in 10 minutes and which was made freely available by its developer, has been recently introduced and has been found to be a more sensitive screening tool fur early cognitive impairment and dementia compared to the MMSE. OBJECTIVES: To modify the MoCA so it can be adapted into the Filipino setting (Filipino adaptation of the MoCA or FA-MoCA); To assess the applicability of the FA-MoCA in our local setting; Using pre-determined cut-off points, to compare the number of respondents scoring normally and below cut-offi in both FA-MoCA and the MMSE-Filipino (MMSE-F). METHOD: One hundred (100) respondents which comprised of nursing and nursing aide staff from two tertiary hospitals, were administered both MMSE-F and FA-MoCAin random order with a minimum of one hour and a maximum of three days from each other. Global individual and mean scores for both tests and item mean scores for the FA-MoCA were computed. Proportion of subjects scoring below and within/above cutoff points were determined for both tests. Using one-sample t-test, FA-MoCA mean scores of the respondents were compared to the MoCA normative data derived from an earlier validity study for the latter. RESULTS: Mean age of the respondents was 28.27 ± 7.70 years. All the respondents had 14 years of schooling. The mean MMSE-F score was 28.75 ± 1.21; mean FA-MoCA score for all respondents was 24.83 ± 1.97. Ninety-seven (97%) of the respondents had normal MMSE-F scores, 3% had MMSE-F scores below cut-off point; whereas, 39% had normal FA-MoCA scores and 61 % had FA-MoCA scores below cut-off. Among those with normal MMSE-F scores, 59 (60.8%) had abnormal FA-MoCA scores and 38 (39.2%) had normal FA-MoCA scores. Compared to the MoCA normative data, the respondents' global mean FA-MoCA score was significantly lower than that of the normal controls (p=0.00, t-test, CI: -2.93 to -2.15). With regards to the item mean FA-MoCA scores, the following were noted to be significantly lower than the MoCA item scores of normal controls in the MoCA normative data: cube (p=0.00, t-test), clock (p=0.00, t-test), naming (p=0.00, t-test), memory (p=0.004, t-test), sentence repetition (p=0.00, t-test), and abstraction (p=0.00, t-test). On the other hand, the FA-MoCA respondents' score in the digit span item was significantly higher (p=0.00, t-test) then the MoCA normative data. CONCLUSION: The FA-MoCA may be easily administered as an initial screening tool for cognition with recommended minimal modifications for its administration. It dearly provides more information than the MMSE-F as it allows assessment of more cognitive domains.

Human ; Male ; Female ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Techniques And Procedures ; Dementia ; Nervous System Diseases ; Central Nervous System Diseases ; Brain Diseases