Accuracy and Psychometric Properties of the Brazilian Version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment as a Brief Screening Tool for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease in the Initial Stages in the Elderly.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the applicability and the psychometric properties of Montreal Cognitive Assessment Brazilian Version (MoCA-BR) in the elderly, as well as comparing its accuracy as a tracking test for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) with the accuracy of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). METHOD: A transversal study was performed in 4 reference medical centers that care for the elderly. In all, 229 elderly participated in the study. To select the sample, the clinical history of the elderly, Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire, and neuropsychological battery, apart from MMSE and MoCA-BR cognitive tests, were selected. The elderly were classified into control, MCI, and mild AD groups. RESULTS: There was a significant statistical difference between the MoCA-BR scores of the elderly and the control group, MCI, and mild AD (p < 0.001). The Cronbach alpha for MoCA-BR was 0.77, indicating a good internal consistency. The test-retest reliability was elevated, with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) 0.91. The inter-examiner reliability was excellent (ICC 0.96). The area under curve of the receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.95, when evaluating the ability of MoCA-BR to discriminate between the elderly with cognitive impairment and cognitively healthy elderly. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study show that the Brazilian version of MoCA is a reliable cognitive tracking tool and is accurate for the detection of MCI and early stage AD, with good applicability on the elderly with education equal to or more than 4 years and adequate to discriminate between cognitively healthy elderly, and those with MCI and mild, proving to be superior to MMSE in tracking MCI and similar to this test when tracking mild AD.

Is the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) screening superior to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in the detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) in the elderly?

ABSTRACTObjective:To compare the accuracy of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in tracking mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). METHOD: A Systematic review of the PubMed, Bireme, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, and PsycInfo databases was conducted. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria and staring with 1,629 articles, 34 articles were selected. The quality of the selected research was evaluated through the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies 2 tool (QUADAS-2). RESULT: More than 80% of the articles showed MoCA to be superior to MMSE in discriminating between individuals with mild cognitive impairment and no cognitive impairment. The area under the curve varied from 0.71 to 0.99 for MoCA, and 0.43 to 0.94 for MMSE, when evaluating the ability to discriminate MCI in the cognitively healthy elderly individuals, and 0.87 to 0.99 and 0.67 to 0.99, respectively, when evaluating the detection of AD. The AUC mean value for MoCA was significantly larger compared to the MMSE in discriminating MCI from control [0.883 (CI 95% 0.855-0.912) vs MMSE 0.780 (CI 95% 0.740-0.820) p < 0.001]. CONCLUSION: The screening tool MoCA is superior to MMSE in the identification of MCI, and both tests were found to be accurate in the detection of AD.

Temporomandibular disorders and eating disorders: a literature review / As desordens temporomandibulares e os transtornos alimentares: uma revisão de literatura

INTRODUCTION: Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and eating disorders (ED) affect function and parafunction of the oral cavity and have high rates of medical and psychological comorbidity. However, little is known about the possible associations between them, and few studies have investigated the existence of such associations. METHODS: A search was conducted on the SciELO, LILACS, and PubMed/MEDLINE databases to find relevant articles written in English and Portuguese. Only studies involving human beings were included, and there was no limit for year of publication. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: There is evidence of the correlation between TMD and ED, but their comorbidity must be better understood. The presence of depressive symptoms is an aggravating factor that must also be taken into account during the diagnosis and treatment of those patients (AU)

INTRODUÇÃO: As disfunções temporomandibulares (DTM) e os transtornos alimentares (TA) envolvem a função e a parafunção da cavidade oral e apresentam altos índices de comorbidade médica e psicológica. No entanto, pouco se sabe sobre as possíveis associações entre essas entidades clínicas, e poucos artigos avaliaram a existência de uma relação elas. MÉTODOS: Uma busca foi realizada nas bases de dados SciELO, LILACS e PubMed/MEDLINE a fim de encontrar artigos relevantes escritos em inglês e português. Apenas estudos envolvendo seres humanos foram incluídos, e não foi estabelecido um limite para ano de publicação. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÕES: Há evidências da correlação entre DTM e TA, mas essa comorbidade precisa ser melhor compreendida. A presença de sintomas depressivos é um fator agravante que também precisa ser levado em consideração durante o diagnóstico e tratamento desses pacientes (AU)

Transtorno de estresse pós-traumático: formulaçäo diagnóstica e questões sobre comorbidade / Post-traumatic stress disorder: diagnostic formulation and comorbidity issues

Objetivos: Atualizar os principais aspectos relacionados ao quadro clínico e ao diagnóstico do transtorno de estresse pós-traumático (TEPT), assim como discutir sua validade como entidade nosológica e sua comorbidade. Métodos: Descriçäo da sintomatologia clínica, detendo-se em seu significado fenomenológico, e revisäo da literatura sobre comorbidade e validaçäo diagnóstica. Resultados: O TEPT tem sua apresentaçäo clínica divididda em três grupos sintomatológicos relacionados à reexperiência traumática, ao comportamento de esquiva e distanciamento emocional e à hiperexcitabilidade psíquica. A estruturaçäo diagnóstica do TEPT, especialmente a validade do constructo, vem sendo confirmada por evidências crescentes oriundas de estudos de natureza epidemiológica e neurobiológica. A prevalência de transtornos co-mórbidos próxima a 80 por cento desperta a atençäo sobre a maneira em que é conceituado o diagnóstico. Questiona-se a imprecisäo descritiva dos critérios diagnósticos, permitindo a sobreposiçäo de sintomas de outros transtornos, näo estaria contribuindo para uma superestimaçäo da prevalência co-mórbida. Conclusäo: O TEPT é considerado válido como diagnóstico, reconhecendo e legitimando a condiçäo clínica, näo necessariamente temporária, derivada essencialmente do trauma psicológico