Korean Version of the Mini-Mental State Examination Using Smartphone: A Validation Study.

BACKGROUND

Stroke often leads to disability, and poststroke survivors often have limited accessibility to medical facilities.

INTRODUCTION

For such patients, mobile videoconferencing technology offers an opportunity to perform follow-up assessment and appropriate management of cognitive impairment. We aimed to determine the validity of the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE-K) when administered using a smartphone.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Thirty patients with ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke were included in this study (20 males, 10 females; mean age, 69.8 ± 12.9 years). Both face-to-face and remote assessments of cognitive function through MMSE-K were performed for each patient at an interval of at least 3 days. Additionally, an in-person collaborator evaluated the MMSE-K score during the remote assessment. A smartphone and a tablet were used by the patient and the examiner, respectively, and remote connection was mediated using a dedicated videoconferencing application. The MMSE-K scores obtained through face-to-face, remote, and in-person assessments were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test and the Spearman correlation analysis.

RESULTS

There was good agreement between face-to-face and remote assessments, as well as between remote assessment and in-person collaborator's evaluation regarding total MMSE-K score and subscores for each MMSE-K domain (orientation, memory, attention/calculation, language, and visuospatial function).

DISCUSSION: Remote assessment can be a useful clinical evaluation method, and this study confirmed the validity.

CONCLUSIONS

The smartphone represents a promising tool for the assessment of cognitive function in clinical practice, but further research into the intra- and inter-rater reliability of observations is warranted.