Anatomic Correlation of the Mini-Mental State Examination: A Voxel-Based Morphometric Study in Older Adults

Abstract

The clinical utility of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and its shorter version (SMMSE) is still debated. There is a need to better understand the neuroanatomical correlates of these cognitive tests. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether lower MMSE and SMMSE scores correlated with focal brain volume reduction in older adults. Participants from the GAIT study (n = 207; mean, 70.9±5.9 years; 57% female; mean MMSE 26.2±3.9; mean SMMSE 5.1±1.1) were evaluated using the MMSE and SMMSE and received a 1.5-Tesla MRI scan of the brain. Cortical gray and white matter subvolumes were automatically segmented using Statistical Parametric Mapping. Age, gender, education level, and total intracranial volume were included as potential confounders. We found correlations between the MMSE score and specific cortical regions of the limbic system including the hippocampus, amygdala, cingulate gyrus, and parahippocampal gyrus, independently of the diagnostic category (i.e., mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer disease or controls). Regarding correlations with the SMMSE score, only one cluster in the left hippocampus was identified, which overlapped with the cluster that was positively correlated with the MMSE score. There were no correlations with the volume of white matter. In conclusion, worse MMSE and SMMSE scores were associated with gray matter atrophy mainly in the limbic system. This finding highlights that atrophy of specific brain regions are related to performance on the MMSE and the SMMSE tests, and provides new insights into the cognitive function probed by these tests.

Smaller Hippocampal Volume and Degraded Peripheral Hearing Among Japanese Community Dwellers

“…From the 30 items of the whole MMSE that address multiple cognitive domains, we extracted six items which are specifically related to memory function calculated by the following formula: (immediate recall of three words + delayed recall of three words). This subset score, named as a short form of MMSE (SMMSE), is considered to be efficient in screening dementia among older adults with a memory complaint ( Haubois et al, 2011 ), and have reported being correlated with hippocampal volume ( Dinomais et al, 2016 ). We also calculated subtracted scores (MMSE-SMMSE) to represent cognitive functions not related to memory.…”

Metrological references for health care based on entropy

“…Figure 5. Correlation plots of cognitive ability (MMSE, dependent variable) versus regional grey matter volume (rGMV, independent variable) ♦ original data [13]; x Rasch corrected for 'counted fraction' distortion ( [14] and [4]). Standard uncertainties are indicated for MMSE ability scores.…”

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with reduced hippocampal volume and disrupted structural connectivity in patients with mild cognitive impairment

“…MMSE is a widely used parameter to assess cognitive dysfunction (Dinomais et al, 2016;Spering et al, 2012). In this study, there were significant differences in all cognitive scales (MMSE, CDR, CDR-SOB, and GDS) except the GDepS between the vitamin D-deficient and not-deficient groups.…”