Normative data of the Spanish version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in older individuals from Peru

Bulgarelli, Lucia; Gyr, Emilia; Villanueva, Jose; Mejía, Koni; Mejía, Claudia; Paredes, Renato; Blumen, Sheyla

doi:10.1590/1980-5764-DN-2024-0261

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Original Article • Dement. neuropsychol. 19 • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1980-5764-DN-2024-0261 linkcopy

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10.1590/1980-5764-DN-2024-0261-ER

Normative data of the Spanish version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in older individuals from Peru

Datos normativos de la versión en español de la Evaluación Cognitiva de Montreal (MoCA) en adultos mayores del Perú

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) has proven to be an effective tool for detecting early dementia in older adults. However, in the Latin American region, there are few available norms of the Spanish version. The Peruvian population faces major healthcare barriers to early screening, so it is important to validate this instrument within this population.

Objective: To standardise the Spanish version of the MoCA for the older population in Lima, addressing the critical need for culturally and demographically adapted cognitive evaluation tools in Peru.

Methods: The test was administered to 338 ambulatory and homebound adults aged 60 to 80 (216 women) from three institutions: San Miguel District Municipality, San José Obrero Polyclinic in Barranco, and EDMECON in Surco. we computed regression-based norms adjusted for age and education.

Results: Sex was not a predictor of the total scores of MoCA. Moreover, age (R2=0.12) and education (R2=0.24) significantly influenced cognitive performance, with education being the strongest predictor. A raw score above 18 indicates normal cognitive performance for the total sample.

Conclusions: We provided normative data and cutoff scores for older Peruvians, supporting the clinical use of the MoCA in Peru and setting a benchmark for future test standardizations in the region.

Keywords:
Mental Status and Dementia Tests; Dementia; Cognitive Dysfunction; Aged; Neuropsychology

		Male (n=122)		Female (n =216)		Total (n=338)		(p)
		n	%	n	%	n	%	(p)
Age group (years)	60–64	11	9	40	18.5	51	15	8.0 (0.08)
	65–69	26	21.3	44	20.3	70	20.7
	70–74	24	19.6	49	22.6	73	21.5
	75–79	22	18	35	16.2	57	16.8
	>80	39	31.9	48	22.2	87	25.7
Educational level (years)	Primary (0–6)	19	15.5	50	23.1	69	20.4	3.3 (0.18)
	Secondary (7–11)	51	41.8	90	41.6	141	41.7
	Higher (>12)	52	42.6	76	35.1	128	37.8

Sex		MoCA Visosp/Exe	MoCA Identiﬁcation	MoCA Attention	MoCA Language	MoCA Abstraction	MoCA Delayed recall	MoCA Orientation	MoCA Total
Male (n=122)	Median	3	3	4	2	1	1	6	19
Male (n=122)	IQR	2	1	2	1	2	3	0.75	6
Female (n=216)	Median	2	3	4	1	1	1	6	18
Female (n=216)	IQR	3	1	3	1	2	3	1	8.25
Total (n=338)	Median	3	3	4	1	1	1	6	19
Total (n=338)	IQR	3	1	2	1	2	3	1	8

	Age		Years of Education
	τ_b	r₂	τ_b	r₂
Visospatial/Executive	-0.22*	0.09*	0.34*	0.16*
Identiﬁcation	-0.17*	0.04*	0.19*	0.06*
Attention	-0.15*	0.04*	0.27*	0.12*
Language	-0.16*	0.04*	0.34*	0.17*
Abstraction	-0.19*	0.06*	0.31*	0.13*
Delayed recall	-0.17*	0.05*	0.18*	0.05*
Orientation	-0.20*	0.05*	0.27*	0.11*
MoCA Total	-0.24*	0.12*	0.37*	0.24*

SS_a	Pc	Suggested cut-off score	Total Montreal Cognitive Assessment Raw Scores
SS_a	Pc	Cognitive Impairment	Total sample	60–64	65–69	70–74	75–79	80+
2	<1	Severe	3	-	-	-	-	-
3	1		4–6	-	9	6	3	4
4	2–3		7	10–11	11	7	-	5
5	4–6	Moderate	8–9	13	13	8–10	7	6–7
6	7–12		10–12	14	14	11–12	8	8–10
7	13–20		13–14	15–17	15	14–15	9–11	11–12
8	21–30	Mild	15–16	18–20	16–17	16–17	12–15	13
9	31–43		17–18	21	18–20	18	16–18	14–15
10	44–56		19–20	22	21–22	19–20	19–20	16–17
11	57–68		21–22	23	23–24	21–22	21–22	18
12	60–79		23	24	25	23	23	19–20
13	80–86		24–25	25	26	24	24	21–22
14	87–92	Non impaired	26–27	26	27	26–27	25	23
15	93–95		28	27	28	28	-	26
16	96–97		29	28	29	-	29	27
17	98		-	-	-	-	-	-
18	>99		-	29	-	29	-	28

SS_a	Pc	Years of education
SS_a	Pc	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
2	<1	5	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	0	0	0	-1	-1	-1	-2
3	1	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	-1
4	2–3	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	0
5	4–6	8	8	8	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	2	2	2	1
6	7–12	9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	4	4	4	3	3	3	2
7	13–20	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	6	6	5	5	5	4	4	4	3
8	21–30	11	11	11	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	4
9	31–43	12	12	12	11	11	11	10	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	7	7	7	6	6	6	5
10	44–56	13	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	11	10	10	10	9	9	8	8	8	7	7	7	6
11	57–68	14	14	14	13	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	11	10	10	9	9	9	8	8	8	7
12	60–79	15	15	15	14	14	14	13	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	10	10	10	9	9	9	8
13	80–86	16	16	16	15	15	15	14	14	14	13	13	13	12	12	11	11	11	10	10	10	9
14	87–92	17	17	17	16	16	16	15	15	15	14	14	14	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	11	10
15	93–95	18	18	18	17	17	17	16	16	16	15	15	15	14	14	13	13	13	12	12	12	11
16	96–97	19	19	19	18	18	18	17	17	17	16	16	16	15	15	14	14	14	13	13	13	12
17	98	20	20	20	19	19	19	18	18	18	17	17	17	16	16	15	15	15	14	14	14	13
18	>99	21	21	21	20	20	20	19	19	19	18	18	18	17	17	16	16	16	15	15	15	14

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Academia Brasileira de Neurologia, Departamento de Neurologia Cognitiva e Envelhecimento R. Vergueiro, 1353 sl.1404 - Ed. Top Towers Offices, Torre Norte, São Paulo, SP, Brazil, CEP 04101-000, Tel.: +55 11 5084-9463 | +55 11 5083-3876 - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
E-mail: revistadementia@abneuro.org.br | demneuropsy@uol.com.br

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