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A Preliminary Study of the Mini-Mental State Examination in a Spanish Child Population

Section of Behavioral Neurology Institut Municipal d'Assistència Sanitària (IMAS), Hospital Universitari del Mar, Barcelona, Spain, Health Services Research Unit Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica (IMIM), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

María-Clara Machado, MSc

Section of Behavioral Neurology Institut Municipal d'Assistència Sanitària (IMAS), Hospital Universitari del Mar, Barcelona, Spain

Elena Sintas, MSc

Section of Behavioral Neurology Institut Municipal d'Assistència Sanitària (IMAS), Hospital Universitari del Mar, Barcelona, Spain

Susana de Sola, MSc

Health Services Research Unit Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica (IMIM), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, Section of Behavioral Neurology Institut Municipal d'Assistència Sanitària (IMAS), Hospital Universitari del Mar, Barcelona, Spain

Peter Böhm, MSc

Section of Behavioral Neurology Institut Municipal d'Assistència Sanitària (IMAS), Hospital Universitari del Mar, Barcelona, Spain, i3 Research Barcelona, Spain

Jordi Peña-Casanova, MD, PhD

Health Services Research Unit Institut Municipal d'Investigació Mèdica (IMIM), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, jpcasanova@ imas.imim.es

The Mini-Mental State Examination is one of the most widely used screening tests for the adult population in daily neurologic practice. The aim of this study was to describe and to analyze the results of the Mini-Mental State Examination administered to Spanish children and to assess the relationship between Mini-Mental State Examination scores and the child's mental age/intelligence quotient. The study population included 181 children whose ages ranged between 4 and 12 years. The neuropsychologic battery consisted of the Mini-Mental State Examination and Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test. Percentiles were obtained for the Mini-Mental State Examination total score according to age ranges. Performance gradually increased from 4 to 10 years of age when a plateau in the total Mini-Mental State Examination score was reached. At the age of 6 years, results exceeded 24 on average. Pairwise mean comparisons showed statistically significant differences between the age groups (P < .05). Data distribution could be classified in 4 independent groups for the following chronologic ages: 4, 5, and 6 years and from 7 to 12 years of age. The total Mini-Mental State Examination score correlated significantly with the child's chronologic (r = 0.80, P < .001) and mental (r = 0.76, P < .001) ages. This is a preliminary study of the application of the Mini-Mental State Examination in a Spanish child population as well as a first step for the assessment of the usefulness of this instrument as a cognitive screening tool for children's development.

Key Words: MMSE • cognition • test standardization • neuropsychologic tests

Journal of Child Neurology, Vol. 22, No. 11, 1269-1273 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0883073807307098


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