Brief Report: Using Cognitive Screeners in Autistic Adults.
Use the MoCA-NL instead of the MMSE when screening for cognitive problems in autistic adults over 30.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers compared two quick brain-health tests for autistic adults.
They gave 30 autistic adults the MoCA-NL and the MMSE.
All adults were over 30 years old.
What they found
The MoCA-NL caught more cognitive problems than the MMSE.
It was better at spotting real issues in autistic adults.
The MMSE missed several cases the MoCA-NL found.
How this fits with other research
Nah et al. (2018) also used short screens in autistic adults, but for anxiety and depression.
Both studies show brief tools work well for co-occurring conditions.
Spriggs et al. (2016) found older autistic adults feel more executive problems than tests show.
Z et al2021 gives you a better test to measure those problems.
Happé et al. (2006) used a long battery to spot cognitive patterns.
Z et al (2021) proves you can get similar info in five minutes with MoCA-NL.
Why it matters
If you screen autistic adults over 30, swap the MMSE for the MoCA-NL.
It takes the same five minutes but finds more cognitive issues.
Early catch means earlier support and better outcomes.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
By comparing 51 autistic adults and 49 age-matched controls (aged 30-73 years) we tested if (1) the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is more sensitive in measuring cognitive impairments than the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and (2) if we can replicate the MoCA-findings of Powell et al. (2017) with the Dutch MoCA(-NL). Results showed that: (1) The MoCA-NL is more sensitive, and (2) like Powell, no group differences were observed on the MoCA-NL. However, in contrast to Powell, we did not observe that older autistic adults show more impairment than controls on the MoCA-NL. Nonetheless, as the MoCA-NL is more sensitive to cognitive impairment, it is the recommended screener for older autistic adults.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2021 · doi:10.1016/j.schres.2014.07.006