The patient with cognitive impairment in practice of the general practitioner

Aim. To assess the acceptability of the screening questionnaire for the identification of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in general medical practice, to assess its psychometric validity and to determine the threshold value of the total score of the questionnaire. Materials and methods. The study included outpatients of both sexes over the age of 18 years with a diagnosis of MCI according to ICD-10 F 06.7. The MoCA was used as a tool to validate the new questionnaire. The formulation of the seven items of the MCI 7 questionnaire was based on patients' complaints about those aspects of cognitive dysfunction that are found in MCI. The linguistic form of the questions was as close as possible to everyday speech, each question had to be answered either ”Yes” or ”No”. Results. 99 patients (64 females) were included in the study, the mean age was 60±12.7 years, education calculated in years of study – 14.2±2 years, the average score for MoCA was 23.6±3.5 points. MoCA parameter met the criteria for possible MCI (total score lower than 26 score) in 65 patients. Filling out the questionnaire did not cause difficulties for patients and did not require the assistance of the staff. The consistency of the detection of MCI by MoCA and by the questionnaire of MCI 7 with the threshold value of the total score for MCI 7 equal to three reached 92% from the patients with MCI by MoCA. The questionnaire showed good internal consistency: a criterion Cronbach's alpha was 0.81. Conclusion. The MCI 7 questionnaire can become useful screening instrument for detection of patients with suspected MCI in primary health care institutions.