A – 116 Use of Cognitive Screeners in the Detection of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA)

Abstract Objective Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by gradual progression of primary language dysfunction. There is minimal research examining the use of cognitive screening measures with individuals with PPA. Method This study explored performance of PPA patients on the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The study included a retrospective chart review of neuropsychological reports of 42 adults (age range = 54-89; M age = 72.98; 67% female; 95% Caucasian; M education = 14.83 years) diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia due to PPA following comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Results Raw scores and diagnostic classification accuracy were calculated on the MMSE and MoCA. The MMSE accurately identified 56% of individuals with MCI (M=24.56; n=9) and 85% with dementia (M=17; n=20). The MMSE did not identify MCI/dementia for 3/4 agrammatic, 2/10 logopenic, and 2/11 semantic patients, using the recommended cutoffs. The MoCA accurately classified 100% of MCI (M=16.5; n=4) and dementia (M=11.89; n=9) patients. Patients administered MoCA had an average of 1.54 years since symptom onset, compared to 2.79 years with the MMSE. Conclusion Preliminary data suggests the MoCA may be more sensitive to detecting PPA and possibly able to detect PPA earlier in the disease course compared to the MMSE. Discrepancies between the language items across measures likely accounts for this. Additional investigation is warranted to determine how screening performance may align with neuropsychological testing.