Is there information contained within the sentence‐writing component of the mini mental state examination? A retrospective study of community dwelling older people

Abstract

In community dwelling people aged around 80 years, despite no association between objectively rated features of the MMSE sentence and intelligence or disability, raters were able to make better-than-chance estimates of subjects' intelligence test scores.

A Retrospective Analysis of the Sentence Writing Component of the Mini Mental State Examination: Cognitive and Affective Aspects

“…The fact that in this study no association was found between the length of the sentence and a diagnosis of depression may indicate that the length of the sentence itself does not reflect the affective state of patients with cognitive impairment. Our findings are similar to those of Shenkin et al [28] who also failed to find an association between the number of words in the MMSE sentence and depressive symptoms. It is of interest that in our study patients with higher GDS-15 scores wrote shorter sentences.…”

“…This result is similar to that reported by Shenkin et al [28] but is in contrast with the finding of McCarthy et al [16]. We found a significant association between the number of words per sentence and the cognitive diagnosis.…”

“…According to the study by McCarthy et al [16] the polarity of the sentence was inversely related to the MMSE score, while Rösler et al [17] found that ‘sentences with inadequate emotional content seem to indicate a dementing illness’. On the other hand, as in our study, Shenkin et al [28] found no association between the polarity of the sentence and MMSE scores. Since in all these studies [16,17,28] the affective status of patients was not determined, it is difficult to compare our results with these authors.…”

Education does not equally influence all the Mini Mental State Examination subscales and items: inferences from a Brazilian community sample

“…However, raters were able to correctly estimate the IQ of the participants. 16 Nonverbal and visual-constructive abilities are learnt and applied not only according to innate abilities but also as a response to the needs of the individual to adapt to the environment. Some of the skills which are necessary in order to cope with the everyday challenges in a city are continuously practiced without any formal education and cultural background certainly plays a role in the development of these skills.…”

“…14 A qualitative approach to the MMSE items may provide additional information on subtle changes which can be further examined with other neuropsychological tests designed to cover a broader range of cognitive abilities. [15][16][17] Patients with mild cognitive impairment, for instance, tend to score above the established cutoff points of the MMSE. 15,18 There is a need to inform clinicians about the size of the impact of sociodemographic variables on the MMSE scores, rather than just setting cutoff scores for education.…”