Detecting Dementia With the Mini-Mental State Examination in Highly Educated Individuals

To evaluate the utility of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores in detecting cognitive dysfunction in a sample of highly educated individuals.

Archival data were reviewed on 4248 participants enrolled in the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer Disease Research Center and Alzheimer Disease Patient Registry. PATIENTS: A total of 1141 primarily white (93%) individuals with 16 or more years of self-reported education were identified. These included 307 (164 men and 143 women) patients with dementia (any type), 176 (106 men and 70 women) patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 658 (242 men and 416 women) control participants without dementia.