Kelson James Almeida
◽
Larissa Clementino Leite de Sá Carvalho
◽
Tomásia Henrique Oliveira de Holanda Monteiro
◽
Paulo Cesar de Jesus Gonçalves Júnior
◽
Raimundo Nonato Campos-Sousa
ABSTRACT. The Movement Disorder Society has published some recommendations for dementia diagnosis in Parkinson disease (PD), proposing the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) as a cognitive screening tool in these patients. However, few studies have been conducted assessing the Portuguese version of this test in Brazil (MOCA-BR). Objective: the aim of the present study was to define the cut-off points of the MOCA-BR scale for diagnosing Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI) and Dementia (PD-D) in patients with PD. Methods: this was a cross-sectional, analytic field study based on a quantitative approach. Patients were selected after a consecutive assessment by a neurologist, after an extensive cognitive evaluation, and were classified as having normal cognition (PD-N), PD-MCI or PD-D. The MOCA-BR was then applied and 89 patients selected. Results: on the cognitive assessment, 30.3% were PD-N, 41.6% PD-MCI and 28.1% PD-D. The cut-off score on the MOCA-Br to distinguish PD-N from PD-D was 22.50 (95% CI 0.748-0.943) for sensitivity of 85.5% and specificity of 71.1%. The cut-off for distinguishing PD-D from MCI was 17.50 (95% CI 0.758-0.951) for sensitivity of 81.6% and specificity of 76%.