Adaptation and validation of the Armenian version of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) cognitive function assessment scale

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Cognitive impairment is a prevalent complaint among the elderly population. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is an originally English cognitive impairment assessment scale. It is a widely used tool and was validated for various languages. The aim of our study was to validate the Armenian version of the MMSE.
Methods: The MMSE is an 11-item scale assessing 7 domains of cognitive function. Translation to Armenian and back-translation to English were made by independent translators. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were calculated with Cronbach’s alpha for the Armenian MMSE reached 0.84. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was significant for the test-retest results. Then the MMSE was validated against the clinical diagnoses of major and mild neurocognitive disorders (NCD) using the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Also subgroups were separated by diseases according to DSM-5 criteria: Parkinson’s Disease with (PDD) and without NCD (PD). MMSE mean values were compared using Mann-Whitney U test.
Results: We enrolled 126 participants in our study (mean age 65.5±10.5 years; females – 54.8%). The cognitive impairment group (CIG) included 71 (56.3%) participants, while the remaining 55 (43.7%) participants constituted the healthy control group (HCG) according to DSM-5 criteria. The statistical analysis showed significant differences between the mean MMSE scores of these groups and subgroups: for CIG vs. HCG: 27.6±2.3 and 19.7±6.3, (p<0.01), and for PD vs. PDD: 28.2±1.6 and 21.9±2.1, (p<0.01) respectively.
Conclusion: The Armenian MMSE appeared to have high internal consistency and reliability and was successfully validated among Armenian speaking neurological patients to assess a cognitive deficit.