Application of Montreal Cognitive Assessment in screening mild cognitive impairment in hemodialysis patients

Objective To assess the value of Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA) in screening mild cognitive impairment(MCI) in hemodialysis patients.Methods Twenty hemodialysis patients with MCI and 20 healthy subjects were examined with neuropsychological tests using Mini-mental State Examination(MMSE) and MoCA.Results The MoCA had a sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 75% for detecting MCI,and the sensitivity and specificity of MMSE were 30% and 95%,respectively.For the MoCA sub-items,hemodialysis patients with MCI had significantly lower scores than the healthy subjects in all cognitive function measures except for name and fixed orientation sub-items(t=-1.18,P=0.246;t=-0.380,P=0.700).In MMSE sub-items,significant differences were found between the two groups in only calculation and delayed recall(t=-4.91,P=0.00;t=-3.87,P=0.000).Conclusions The MoCA is a highly sensitive scale for screening MCI in patients with hemodialysis,which allows comprehensive assessment of patients'cognitive functions better than the MMSE scale,and thus is worthy of clinical use.