LITERACY AND PERFORMANCE ON THE MINI-MENTAL-STATE-EXAMINATION

OBJECTIVE: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores are associated with age, education, and ethnicity. The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between MMSE and literacy. DESIGN: Cros s-sectional. SETTING: A Community population in Tucson, Arizona. PARTI CIPANTS: Senior citizens in public assistance housing. MEASUREMENTS: M MSE score, reading level, and sociodemographic variables. MAIN RESULTS : A total of 214 subjects were tested. The mean age was 72.3 (+/-8.01) , and the mean education level was 10.3 years (range 0-20 years). Read ing levels ranged from grade 0 (non-reader) to 8 (maximum value for th e test used). with a mean of 4.8 (+/-2.8). MMSE scores ranged from a m ean of 21.9 (+/-4.6) for non-readers to a mean of 28.0 (+/-2.0) for su bjects with greater than or equal to 8th grade reading skills. Multipl e regression using reading level, education, age, and ethnicity as ind ependent variables, and MMSE score as the dependent variable, showed t he highest correlation was between MMSE and reading level (R(2) = .265 ). Education level made only a small additional contribution; age and ethnicity did not enter the regression equation. Correlations between reading level and individual MMSE subsections were highest between rea ding level and MMSE language items (r = .499). CONCLUSIONS: The correl ation between MMSE score and reading skills is stronger than the corre lation with other sociodemographic variables. Proper interpretation of MMSE scores requires knowledge of patients' reading levels.