Validity of Montreal Cognitive Assessment in Non-English speaking patients with Parkinson′s disease

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a brief and easy screening tool for accurately testing cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. We tested its validity for use in non-English (Malayalam) speaking patients with Parkinson's disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a Malayalam (a south-Indian language) version of Montreal Cognitive Assessment and applied to 70 patients with Parkinson's disease and 60 age- and education-matched healthy controls. Metric properties were assessed, and the scores were compared with the performance in validated Malayalam versions of Mini Mental Status Examination and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination. RESULTS: The Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Malayalam showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability and its scores correlated with Mini Mental Status Examination (patients: R = 0.70; P < 0.001; healthy controls: R = 0.26; P = 0.04) and Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (patients: R = 0.8; P < 0.001; healthy controls: R = 0.52; P < 0.001) scores. CONCLUSION: This study establishes the reliability of cross-cultural adaptation of Montreal Cognitive Assessment for assessing cognition in Malayalam-speaking Parkinson's disease patients for early screening and potential future interventions for cognitive dysfunction.