Montreal Cognitive Assessment for the screening and prediction of cognitive decline in early Parkinson's disease.

Abstract Background Early diagnosis of cognitive impairment in PD would allow appropriate monitoring and timely intervention to reduce the progression to dementia (PDD). Objective To study the usefulness of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in the screening for mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and its predictive utility in determining longitudinal cognitive decline in PD. Methods Prospective longitudinal study of patients with mild PD. PD-MCI and PDD was diagnosed based on the Movement Disorder taskforce (MDS) criteria. Receiver Operating Characteristic analyses and Cox regression analyses were performed. Results 95 patients; mean age 66.37 (SD 7.86); mean HY 95% CI: 1.03–1.74: p  = 0.029]. A baseline MoCA ≤26 was highly predictive of progressive cognitive decline (HR 3.47, 95% CI: 2.38–5.07; p Conclusions MoCA is a reliable tool in predicting cognitive decline in early PD. A MoCA score of ≤26 significantly increases the risk for progressive cognitive decline.