The items in the Chinese version of the Montreal cognitive assessment basic discriminate among different severities of Alzheimer's disease.

Background: To determine whether items of the Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Basic (MoCA-BC) could discriminate among cognitively normal controls (NC), and those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), and moderate-severe (AD), as well as their sensitivity and specificity.

Methods: MCI (n = 456), mild AD (n = 502) and moderate-severe AD (n = 102) patients were recruited from the memory clinic, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai, China. NC (n = 329) were recruited from health checkup outpatients. Five MoCA-BC item scores were collected in interviews.

Results: The MoCA-BC orientation test had high sensitivity and specificity for discrimination among MCI, mild AD and moderate-severe AD. The delayed recall memory test had high sensitivity and specificity for MCI screening. The verbal fluency test was efficient for detecting MCI and differentiating AD severity.

Conclusions: Various items of the MoCA-BC can identify MCI patients early and identify the severity of dementia.