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. 2022 May;43(5):3053-3063.
doi: 10.1007/s10072-021-05845-4. Epub 2022 Jan 6.

Brand new norms for a good old test: Northern Italy normative study of MiniMental State Examination

Giuseppe Foderaro #  1 , Valeria Isella #  2   3 , Andrea Mazzone  4 , Elena Biglia  1   5 , Marco Di Gangi  6 , Fabrizio Pasotti  7 , Flavia Sansotera  1 , Monica Grobberio  8 , Vanessa Raimondi  9 , Cristina Mapelli  10   11 , Francesca Ferri  10   11 , Valentina Impagnatiello  10   11 , Carlo Ferrarese  10   11 , Ildebrando Marco Appollonio  10   11
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Brand new norms for a good old test: Northern Italy normative study of MiniMental State Examination

Giuseppe Foderaro et al. Neurol Sci. 2022 May.

Erratum in

Abstract

Aim: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is one of the most used tests for the screening of global cognition in patients with neurological and medical disorders. Norms for the Italian version of the test were published in the 90 s; more recent norms were published in 2020 for Southern Italy only. In the present study, we computed novel adjustment coefficients, equivalent scores and cut-off value for Northern Italy (Lombardia and Veneto) and Italian speaking Switzerland.

Methods: We recruited 361 healthy young and old (range: 20-95 years) individuals of both sexes (men: 156, women: 205) and from different educational levels (range: 4-22 years). Neuropsychiatric disorders and severe medical conditions were excluded with a questionnaire and cognitive deficits and were ruled out with standardized neuropsychological tests assessing the main cognitive domains. We used a slightly modified version of MMSE: the word 'fiore' was replaced with 'pane' in verbal recalls to reduce the common interference error 'casa, cane, gatto'. The effect of socio-demographic features on performance at MMSE was assessed via multiple linear regression, with test raw score as dependent variable and sex, logarithm of 101-age and square root of schooling as predictors.

Results: Mean raw MMSE score was 28.8 ± 1.7 (range: 23-30). Multiple linear regression showed a significant effect of all socio-demographic variables and reported a value of R2 = 0.26. The new cut off was ≥ 26 /30.

Conclusion: We provide here updated norms for a putatively more accurate version of Italian MMSE, produced in a Northern population but potentially valid all over Italy.

Keywords: Cognitive screening; MMSE; MiniMental State Examination; Neuropsychological assessment; Normative study.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

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Fig. 1
Algorithm of participant selection
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