AUTHOR=Utoomprurkporn Nattawan , Stott Joshua , Costafreda Sergi G. , North Courtney , Heatley Mary , Bamiou Doris Eva 

TITLE=The Screening Accuracy of a Visually Based Montreal Cognitive Assessment Tool for Older Adult Hearing Aid Users

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2021.706282

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2021.706282

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=Objectives: This research aims to validate a modified Montreal Cognitive Assessment for hearing-aid users (MoCA-HA). This population should be the target of cognitive screening due to high risk of developing dementia.
Design: Case-control study
Setting: The participants were recruited from referral hearing-aid centre and memory clinic in central London, United Kingdom.
Participant: 75 hearing-aid users were recruited. Thirty were cognitively intact with hearing impairment controls (NC-HI). Thirty were mild cognitive impairment with hearing impairment (MCI-HI). Fifteen were dementia with hearing impairment (D-HI)
Measurements: The baseline characteristic and analysis of the MoCA-HA for the NC-HI were recorded. The MoCA-HA performance of MCI-HI cohort and D-HI cohort were also studied. 
Results: The cutpoint of <26 yields 93.3% sensitivity with 80% specificity in distinguishing MCI-HI from NC-HI. The specificity increased to 95.6% in screening for all cognitive impairment (MCI-HI and D-HI) from NC-HI.
Conclusion: The MoCA-HA has been validated with a cutpoint which is comparable to the traditional MoCA. This tool may help clinicians to early identify older adult hearing-aid users for appropriate cognitive evaluation.