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Molloy Guide Standardised Mmse PDF
Molloy Guide Standardised Mmse PDF
87-94
0 1997 InternationalPsychogeriatricAssociation
ABSTRACT. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a widely used screening test for
cognitive impairment in older adults. Because the guidelines for its application are brief, the
administration and scoring of the test can vary between different individuals. This can diminish
its reliability. Furthermore, some of the items must be changed to accommodatedifferent settings,
such as the clinic, home, or hospital. Because there are no time limits, it is not clear how long one
should wait for a reply to a question. It is also not clear how one deals with answers that are ”near
misses.” The goal of the Standardized Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE)was to impose
strict guidelines for administration and scoring to improve the reliability of the instrument. The
reliability of the MMSE was compared with the reliability of the SMMSE in 48 older adults who
had the tests administered by university students on three different occasions to assess the
interrater and intrarater reliability of the tests. The SMMSE had significantly better interrater and
intrarater reliability compared with the MMSE: The interrater variance was reduced by 76%and
the intrarater variance was reduced by 86%.It took less time to administer the SMMSE compared
with the MMSE (average 10.5minutes and 13.4 minutes, respectively). The intraclass correlation
for the MMSE was .69, and .9 for the SMMSE. Administering and scoring the SMMSE on a task-
by-task basis are discussed.
Since Dr. Marshall Folstein first pub- now used as a screening tool to evaluate
lished the Mini-Mental State Exam- patients’ suitability for inclusion/exclu-
ination (MMSE) in 1975 (Folstein et al., sion i n clinical trials, and as an outcome
1975), it has become widely used a s a measure in clinical trials. The test has
screening test for cognitive impairment. gained wide acceptance because it cov-
The test, originally developed as a short ers a variety of cognitive domains, such
screening instrument for clinicians, is a s orientation to time a n d place, short-
a n d long-term memory, registration, re-
From the McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, cal1,constructional ability, language, and
Canada (D. W. Molloy, MB,MRCP[I],FRCP[C],and
T. I. M. Standish, MA). the ability to understand and follow com-
mands.
Offprints.Requests for offprints should be directed
to Dr. D. William Molloy, 440 Orkney Road, RR#l Thisshorttest,dycompleted inapprox-
Troy, Ontario, LOR 280, Canada. imately 10 minutes, can be administered
87
88 D. W . Molloy and T. 1. M . Standish
effectively, after a short training period, administer the MMSE. Over time, if they
by physicians and nurses. However, the could agree, they developed a consensus
original MMSE had few instructions for on a system of administration and scor-
administration and scoring; conse- ing. However, in clinical trials with mul-
quently, these were left to the discretion tiple sites, the problem of intersite
of each rater. As a result, different raters variability, a result of interrater variabil-
developed their own styles and tech- ity, confounded interpretation of results.
niques of administering and scoring the This was apparent when raters from dif-
instrument, which differed widely in ferent sites had different administration
some cases, compromising the reliabil- and scoring procedures compared with
ity and widespread application of the other sites. Attempts to deal with this
instrument. For example, one colleague interrater variability wasted significant
gave half points to patients who named amounts of time when multidisciplinary
a day, month, or season incorrectly, ar- clinical teams and different clinicians at
guing that this was better than someone investigators’ meetings attempted to try
who could not name any day, month, or to develop a consensus on how the MMSE
season at all. Others gave hints, told should be administered and scored. The
patients if they gave the wrong answer wheel was constantly being reinvented.
on the first attempt, and encouraged The Standardized Mini-Mental State
them to have a second guess. This vari- Examination (SMMSE) was developed
ability in administration and scoring and tested to provide clear explicit ad-
decreased the reliability of the test. Given ministration and scoring instructions to
that this instrument was being used to reduce variability and increase the reli-
screen patients for experimental treat- ability of the MMSE (Molloyet al., 1991a).
ment trials and as an outcome measure
to assess the effectiveness of new treat-
ments, it was important to ensure that STANDARDIZATION
the test should have satisfactory OF T H E MMSE
interrater and intrarater reliability.
Use of the MMSE inclinical trials posed In our clinic, different individuals from a
problems of variability, not only with multidisciplinary team and research as-
the same rater, but also when different sistants working on different clinical
raters scored the same patient in a test- trials came to a consensus on scoring and
retest situation. Without clear explicit administration guidelines for the MMSE
guidelines, multiple raters inevitably ad- after many hours of discussion. We an-
ministered and scored the test in their swered the questions that different raters
own way unless clear instructions were raised, such as: How is a question to be
provided. asked? What is an acceptable answer?
Clinicians intuitively recognized their How long should one wait for an an-
own intrarater (same rater) variability swer? The SMMSE attempted to provide
and attempted to minimize it. Many dif- clear, unequivocal answers to these ques-
ferent groups developed their own tions. Standardized instructions and
unique standardization procedures to administration techniques were devel-
settle disputes about how to score or oped and refined for each item.
each item, which allows scoring to be could add a sense of urgency and lead
verified after the test is completed. them to rush their answers. The rater
times the test inconspicuously and,
Time Limits should a patient take longer than the
allowed limit, the rater ends the task
The original MMSE did not have any simply by saying ”Thank you, that’s
suggested time limits for subjects to com- fine” and proceeds to the next question.
plete a task. However, time is a factor in If a patient is trying hard to complete a
controlling variability. Most subjects will task, for example, drawing the five-sided
answer a question fairly quickly whereas figures, and exceeds the 1-minute time
others will think for a long time before limit, a rater may allow the patient to
answering. In the silence, between ques- complete it. The scoring is still based on
tion and response, raters may not know the work performed during the time
whether the subject is thinking about the limit and the patient would not get the
answer or has forgotten the question. point if it was not completed correctly
Furthermore, the rater may be reluctant during this period. Other patients hav-
to pose the question again in case this ing difficulty with a task are relieved
interrupts the subject’s train of thought. when the task is stopped by the time
In these circumstances, different raters limit. This latitude is allowed to pre-
have their own arbitrary time limit be- serve the patient’s dignity and prevent
fore they either ask the question again or catastrophic reactions.
move on to the next question. Patient
raters may wait longer for an answer SMMSE Props
and continue to ask the question until
the subject gets it right or gives up. Another potential source of variability
Some subjects will give several an- in the traditional MMSE was in the use
swers, some correct, others incorrect. of props for the ”Close your eyes“ task
Which one should be accepted? Some and drawing of the five-sided figures. It
raters will give the point if one of the was left to the rater to write the words or
answers was correct, whereas others will copy the figures onto a piece of paper as
only award the point if the first or last an example to show the patient. Often
answer was correct and ignore the rest. these words or figures were hand-writ-
Variability can also be caused by varia- ten on the spur of the moment and
tions in the total time taken to complete the quality of the example was quite
the test. Some raters who have long, variable. The SMMSE provides the
drawn-out sessions may make subjects instruction ”Close Your Eyes” and the
fatigued and this ultimately affects per- two five-sided figures on opposite sides
formance. of a laminated card, each in clear black-
The SMMSE imposes explicit time lim- on-white format, with no other
its on all tasks to reduce variability and distractions on the card. “Close your
enhance reliability. In all cases, the rater eyes” is in a very large and plain font.
begins timing from the end of the in- The five-sided figures clearly show the
struction. Subjects are not aware that the four-sided overlapping figure that must
questions are being timed, because this be copied.
92 D.W.Molloy and T.1. M. Standish
"Ball, Car, Man" - Registration backwards to test the subject's ability to
reverse the letters of the word. Five points
In the original test, the three words are given for correctly reversing the let-
"Apple," "Table," and "Penny" were ters, 4 points are given for omission of
suggested to test registration and recall. one letter, 3 points for omission of two
In some cases, where subjects were tested letters, 2 points for reversal or omission
repeatedly in studies, raters would say of three letters, and 1 point is given for
"I am going to name three objects and I reversal of four letters. A list of possible
want you to repeat them back to me," answers with scores for each is provided
and before they could say the words, the in the SMMSE.
subject would say "Apple, Table, Penny.''
It became obvious to us that we needed Serial Sevens
alternate forms of these three words. As
a result, we created alternate three-word The serial sevens are presented as an
sets that had the same word frequency, alternative task to spelling "World" back-
e.g., "Ball, Car, Man" and "Bull, War, wards. However, the two tasks are not
Pan." equivalent. The advantage of serial sev-
In this task, the rater slowly names ens is that the scoring is easier, because
three objects to test the subject's ability the subject is scored according to the
to register new information. The subject number of correct subtractions (Molloy
is asked to repeat them within 20 sec- et al., 1991a).
onds. One point is scored for every word
correctly recalled. The order of recall is Watch and Pencil
not scored. The rater may not repeat the
words, so it is important to enunciate In the naming tasks, the subject is asked
clearly and control for distractions when to name two common objects, a watch
this task is being performed. After the and a pencil. In each case the subject is
subject has recalled as many as he or she shown the object and is asked to say
can, but has not registered all three, the what it is. "Clock" or "time" are not
rater will help the subject to learn all the accepted for the watch, and "pen" is not
words for the delayed recall segment. accepted for the pencil. The watch used
The rater repeats the words at 1-second should be generic in appearance with a
intervals and then asks the subject to dial (not digital). The pencil should be
repeat them until all three are repeated. sharpened to a point and have an eraser
The rater repeats to a maximum of five on the other end. Ten seconds are all
times or until they are learned. The sub- lowed to respond to each.
ject is advised that he or she will be
asked to recall them later, after the task "No ifs ..."
of the spelling of "World" backwards.
In this task, the subject is asked to repeat
"World" the phrase "no ifs, ands, or buts" after
the rater. The subject has 10 seconds to
In this task, the patient is asked to spell respond and must say the phrase verba-
the word "World." After successfully tim to score the point. Raters must be
spelling it, he or she is asked to spell it careful to enunciate the words properly