Adapting Bangla Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-B) among Healthy Elderly in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: The aim of our study was to determine whether modified Bangla version (MMSE-B) is as effective as mini mental state examination (MMSE) tool for use in Bangladeshi people.
 Methods: This descriptive observational study was carried out in Department of Neurology, DMCH from January 2013 to December 2013. A total 200 healthy adults (patient attendants at the clinic) who met the inclusion criteria, were interviewed using a structured questionnaire containing information on age, sex, residence, educational backgrounds and questions set at MMSE English version (MMSE-E) and modified Bangla version for MMSE-B (Figure-1). MMSE and MMSE-B both were applied in 1:1 ration. The literate people were asked whether they are comfortable to answer in English (MMSE-E) or they would like the translated form and we applied the form of MMSE (MMSE-T) according to their wish. But in other group of people the modified Bangla version (MMSE-B) was used irrespective of level of education.
 Result: The mean age at presentation was 58.1±7.8 and 94% were within 50-70 years of age. Male were more common (80, 66) in both the groups and most of them belonging to rural areas. MMSE-B were mostly employed on people having only primary level of education (up to class five, n=80) or no education (n=2), whereas MMSE-E were employed up on people having a level of education higher than class five (n=96). Every question in each item of cognitive domain correlated well (correlation co-efficient range from 0.801- 0.971) except the 7th (correlation co-efficient 0.418) which had higher mean score for MMSE-B than those of MMSE-E (0.90 versus 0.54). The mean score of MMSEB was greater than the mean score of MMSE-E for most of questions except the 1st question that is related to orientation of time. The mean of total score in MMSE-E and MMSE-B were 24.04 and 24.91 respectively with a correlation co-efficient of 0.940.
 Conclusion: MMSE-B is adaptable for use in Bangladeshi people irrespective of level of education.
 Bangladesh Journal of Neuroscience 2016; Vol. 32 (2): 91-97

Prevalence of dementia among older age people and variation across different sociodemographic characteristics: a cross-sectional study in Bangladesh

“…The MMSE was administered in Bangla language 19 , 20 , 21 and has been validated in Bangladesh previously. 22 A neurologist trained the research assistants to administer the MMSE and inter-observer reliability was assessed among the research staff prior to administration of the MMSE to study participants. Additional data were collected following administration of the MMSE that included information on age, sex, education, marital status, employment, and household assets in the presence of a caregiver or an adult family member.…”

Astute exploration of collective mental health events among the residents of elderly care homes

“…The survey was administered in the local Bengali language with the utmost support of the elderly care home authority. Cognitive function was assessed by applying a standardized Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in Bangla [ 29 ]. Depression was assessed with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) [ 30 ].…”

“…Subjects with moderate cognitive impairment had scores between 10 and 21. The scores of 21–24 were considered mild and 25 to 30 were normal [ 29 ]. To analyze the depression status the geriatric depression scale was used where out of the 15 items, 10 scored as the presence of depression when answered positively, and the rest (question numbers 1, 5, 7, 11, 13) scored as depression when answered negatively.…”

“…To measure the reliability the value of Cronbach alpha was found as 0.901 which suggests a high degree of internal consistency and the instruments were found significantly valid at 95% CI. To determine the validity we compared the obtained reliability score with the instruments of other studies in Bangladesh and India [ 18 , 29 ]. Study instruments were peer-reviewed by the authors and experts in the relevant field.…”