Validation of the mental alternation test with the mini-mental state examination in geriatric psychiatric inpatients and normal controls

Abstract 

The Mental Alternation Test (MAT) is a bedside test of cognition that was used for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related cognitive impairment. It has been shown to have good reproducibility and inter-rater reliability, and takes only 60 seconds to administer. To assess the utility of the MAT in the geriatric primary care and geriatric psychiatric settings, we used the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) as a further validation of the test. This cohort study included 20 geriatric psychiatric inpatients, 15 normal geriatric controls, and four normal adult controls. The study was conducted within the inpatient psychiatric unit of a referral hospital. Scores on the MAT and the MMSE were compared using correlation calculations. Test score means and standard deviations were computed for each study population. Test score cutoffs derived from a previous study were used to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the MAT as compared with the MMSE. The MAT score was found to correlate significantly with the MMSE score (r = .84, P < .0001). Scores on the MAT were predictive of scores on the MMSE, with a sensitivity of 91% and a specificity of 100%. We conclude that MAT is a good test of cognition in both geriatric primary care and geriatric psychiatric populations. It has both good specificity and sensitivity, and its ease of administration and inter-rater reliability make it a useful diagnostic tool for identifying those patients who may need further cognitive evaluations.

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