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Original Article| Volume 60, ISSUE 3, P256-259, March 2007

Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE): Scaling the MMSE using item response theory (IRT)

  • Jeanne A. Teresi
    Correspondence
    Corresponding author. 5901 Palisade Avenue, Riverdale, NY 10471, USA.
    Affiliations
    Columbia University Stroud Center, Faculty of Medicine, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Research Division, Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale, Riverdale, NY, USA
    Search for articles by this author
      As reviewed by the authors of the two companion papers [
      • Schultz-Larsen K.
      • Kreiner S.
      • Lomholt R.K.
      Mini-Mental Status Examination: Mixed Rasch model item analysis derived two different cognitive dimensions of the MMSE.
      ,
      • Schultz-Larsen K.
      • Lomholt R.K.
      • Kreiner S.
      Mini-Mental Status Examination: a short form of MMSE was as accurate as the original MMSE in predicting dementia.
      ] accompanying this commentary, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) [
      • Folstein M.F.
      • Folstein S.E.
      • McHugh P.R.
      Mini-mental state. A practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician.
      ] is arguably the most widely used screening measure for cognitive impairment. Originally designed as a brief assessment of five cognitive concepts (orientation, attention, registration, recall, and language), the MMSE has been subjected to numerous investigations of its factor structure and predictive value. Judging from the many recent investigations of the performance of the MMSE in different countries (e.g., Refs. [
      • Crane P.K.
      • Gibbons L.E.
      • Jolley L.
      • van Belle G.
      • Selleri R.
      • Dalmonte E.
      • et al.
      Differential item functioning related to education and age in the Italian version of the Mini-mental State Examination.
      ,
      • De Brito-Marques P.R.
      • Cabral-Filho J.E.
      The role of education in mini-mental state examination: a study in northeast Brazil.
      ,
      • Kucukdeveci A.A.
      • Kutlay S.
      • Elhan A.
      • Tennant A.
      Preliminary study to evaluate the validity of the mini-mental state examination in a normal population in Turkey.
      ,
      • Nys G.M.
      • van Zandvoort M.J.
      • de Kort P.L.
      • Jansen B.P.
      • Kappelle L.J.
      • de Haan E.H.
      Restrictions of the Mini-Mental State Examination in acute stroke.
      ]), there appears to be a resurgence of interest in this measure.
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