Mini Mental State Examinations

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a brief, 30-point questionnaire used to screen for cognitive impairment, covering areas like orientation, registration (recalling three words), attention and calculation (like subtracting seven serially from 100), recall (remembering the three words), and language (naming objects, following commands, writing a sentence, and copying a design). The examiner must adhere strictly to standardized instructions for both asking the questions and scoring, which typically takes about 5 to 10 minutes.

The MMSE is designed for simplicity and can be administered by a wide range of individuals in the healthcare and research fields, including physicians, nurses, psychologists, social workers, and trained medical students or research workers, provided they are familiar with and strictly follow the standardized instructions and scoring procedures.

The MMSE is considered a reasonably good screening tool for moderate to severe cognitive impairment, but it is not a definitive diagnostic test for dementia or Alzheimer's disease on its own. Its accuracy varies depending on the setting and the population, generally showing better accuracy at ruling out dementia in primary care and community settings, and better case-finding ability in specialist settings.