The Validity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment for Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Patients: A Pilot Study.

Objective: The aim of the study was to pilot the use of Montreal Cognitive Assessment as a quick clinical screen for cognitive assessment in traumatic brain injury patients.

Design: The study recruited 61 participants with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury presenting to a tertiary rehabilitation center under the Brain Injury Program. A Montreal Cognitive Assessment questionnaire and neuropsychological battery (Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status and Color Trails Test) were administered to participants who had completed inpatient rehabilitation.

Results: Receiver operating characteristic analysis for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment revealed an optimal balance of sensitivity and specificity at 24/25 to discriminate participants who were classified as less than 5th centile on the Total Scale Index on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status. This achieved a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of 73.9%, 86.5%, 77.3%, and 84.2%, respectively. Receiver operating characteristic analysis for the trail making subtest of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment achieved a sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of 79.4%, 74.1%, 79.4%, and 74.1% in identifying patients classified as less than 5th centile on Color Trail Test part 2.

Conclusions: The use of Montreal Cognitive Assessment displayed good validity in identifying patients with clinically significant impairment on a standard neuropsychological assessment battery in the study population. However, it may lack sensitivity for estimating mild levels of impairment.