10.105. Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

Warning

(§) Permissible for use in some situations but not all (e.g.: clinical, research, commercial, educational), enforced by CamCOPS based on the user’s replies.

Warning

(!) Use requires additional institution-specific permissions; see details.

Warning

(¶+) Reproduction of this task/scale is not permitted (or such permission is not clear). This CamCOPS task is a data collection tool only, with no scale text (unless configured locally to use externally provided text that the hosting institution is legally permitted to use). Use it only in conjunction with a licensed copy of the original task. If your institution is entitled to use the task, you may install an add-on XML file on your server containing the required strings, to make the task fully functional, but you must provide this XML file and its contents yourself (it is outside the scope of CamCOPS).

10.105.1. History and guide

Original: Nasreddine et al. (2005), https://www.pubmed.gov/15817019.

In a study of normal controls, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer’s disease (AlzD), a MoCA score of <26 had 90% sensitivity for MCI, 100% sensitivity for AlzD, and a specificity of 87% (Nasreddine et al. 2005).

10.105.2. Source

http://www.mocatest.org

10.105.3. Intellectual property rights

  • Copyright © Ziad S. Nasreddine. See https://www.mocatest.org/.

  • Initially, in Sep 2012:

  • Update, Mar 2021:

    • As of Apr 2021 (delayed from Sep 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), it is now “mandatory” to be trained (by the MoCA group) to use the MoCA. The site adds: “If you wish to continue using the MoCA Test without being officially trained and certified, you will be at increased risk for administration, scoring and interpretation errors which could lead to misdiagnosis and liability”. See https://www.mocatest.org/permission/, accessed 2021-03-16, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20210226172214/https://www.mocatest.org/permission/.

    • Development of electronic versions is now prohibited.

    • It remains that case that for “Universities / Foundations / Health Professionals / Hospitals / Clinics / Public Health Institutes”, “MoCA© may be used, reproduced, and distributed WITHOUT permission” for clinical and educational use, and “WITH permission” for research use (ibidem).

    • As a result of the new prohibition on electronic reproduction, the MoCA can no longer be properly functional within CamCOPS (your institution would need to obtain specific permissions to reproduce it electronically, and ensure that all users are suitably trained).

    • Old CamCOPS data will not be deleted, of course; the data are separate from the task. The task persists as a “skeleton” without actual task content. Unlike most such tasks, you cannot even create a new “skeleton” (this would be too misleading).

  • See also alternatives, e.g. the ACE-III.