A Preliminary and first Study of the Mini-Mental State Examination for Cognitive Functions assessment in Iranian preschool children: An ongoing study

Background and Aim: The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is as a brief standardized screening test for the assessment of cognitive status and daily neurologic practice in adults. MMSE is composed of ۱۱ categories covering of cognitive domains, such as time and place orientation, immediate and short-term recall, attention, language functions, and constructional ability. Test administration takes about ۵ to ۱۰ minutes. Several screening instruments are available for neuropsychological and cognitive disorder examination in childhood. These tests, however, cover a narrow range of children's ages and cognitive domains which require long administration times and considerable training of the examiner. Therefore, simple screening tools are needed that contains the assessment of wider range of cognitive functions and short period of administration time which would assist in early detection of higher cognitive deficits. Methods: We assessed ۵۰ Persian speaking children (ongoing study) whose ages ranged between ۳ and ۷ years, ۲۵ children, ۳-۵ years and ۲۵ children, ۵-۷ years which were typical development girls and boys without any neurological and cognitive impairment. Association between the MMSE and chronological age and gender also was assessed. The assessment battery consisted of MMSE, Ages Stages Questionnaires (ASQ) and parent version of child behavior checklist (CBCL). Mean, STD and comparison analyze were obtained for MMSE total score according to ages ranges and gender differences. Results: The aim of this study was to translate and describe to analyze the results of the MMSE administered to Persian speaking children which version and culturally adapted, also assess the relationship between MMSE scores and child's age/gender. This is a preliminary validation study in Iranian children. Conclusion: Performance gradually increased from ۳ to ۷ years of age when a plateau in the total MMSE score was reached. At the age of ۶ years, results exceeded ۲۵ on average. Mean comparisons showed statistically significant differences between the age groups (P <.۰۵). Data distribution could be classified in ۳ independent groups for the following chronologic ages: ۳, ۴-۶ and ۷ years of age. The total MMSE score correlated significantly with the child's chronologic (r = ۰.۷۵, P <.۰۰۵). Major difficulties on the MMSE were observed in lower ages children. We conclude that the Child MMSE may be useful as a multi professional screening tool to assess and monitor cognitive functions and impairment in children. Specifically, the MMSE for children was found to be a time-saving and reliable tool for investigating general cognitive abilities in normal/abnormal cognitive function of different ages.

کلیدواژه ها:

Mini-Mental State Exam ، screening ، cognitive impairment ، MMSE in children