Adaptation of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for the Reunion Island Population

Overview

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is the most widely used cognitive screening and monitoring test for neurocognitive disorders in current clinical practice. Its French version was published in 1998 by the GRECO group (MMSE-GRECO). However, some items of this French version are not adapted to local Reunionese particularities. The main objective is to propose and validate the psychometric properties of an adapted version of the MMSE, to the Reunionese culture (MMSE-RUN) in a healthy population and in a sick population (Alzheimer's Disease and Vascular Cognitive Disorder), and to compare its performance with the MMSE-GRECO.

The MMSE score was described in 1975 by an American psychiatrist. Due to its good psychometric properties and its quick and simple administration, it has become the most widely known and used screening and monitoring test for neurocognitive disorders. The MMSE have been translated and adapted for use in many languages and cultures worldwide. Its brevity, ease of use, and established psychometric properties have contributed to its widespread adoption in clinical practice and research settings for detecting cognitive impairment and monitoring cognitive changes over time. It has been adapted into French (MMSE-GRECO), as well as to other cultures in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the French overseas territories, a Polynesian and Caribbean version have been published. In Reunion Island, no adapted version has been published yet. Nevertheless, an early identification of cognitive disorders with adapted screening tools is essential because three risk factors for cognitive vulnerability converge: (1) an aging population (increasing the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease) with (2) a lower level of education (decreasing cognitive resilience), and (3) a higher frequency of cardiovascular risk factors (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia), increasing the frequency of vascular cognitive disorders. The objective of this study is to propose an adapted version of the test for the Reunion Island population (MMSE-RUN) and to validate its psychometric properties within a cohort of healthy subjects and patients (Alzheimer's disease and/or vascular cognitive disorder).