MoCA marketing

What is it?

The MoCA 5-Minute is an abbreviated version of the full MoCA that includes the tasks demonstrated to be most sensitive to mild cognitive impairment.

Purpose: It is designed to screen for mild cognitive impairment using a brief assessment and is well suited for telemedicine or situations where in-person testing is not feasible.

Property	Summary of Findings Across Studies	Typical Values / Ranges	Interpretation
Score Equivalence to Full MoCA	Scores show moderate to strong correlation with the standard in-person MoCA across clinical and community populations.	r ≈ .70–.90	Telephone format captures similar cognitive constructs as the full MoCA.
Internal Consistency / Reliability	Demonstrates stable scoring patterns and low scoring variability across raters.	ICC > .85 (interrater reliability)	Indicates consistent scoring and administration reliability.
Sensitivity to Cognitive Impairment	Accurately distinguishes individuals with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease from cognitively healthy individuals.	Sensitivity ≈ .75–.85	Effective for detecting subtle cognitive decline.
Specificity	Appropriately classifies individuals without cognitive impairment.	Specificity ≈ .73–.82	Helps reduce false-positive classifications.
Comparative Performance to Other Telephone Screens	Outperforms the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), especially for early or mild cognitive changes.	T-MoCA sensitivity typically 10– 20% higher than TICS	Favored as a remote screening tool when early impairment is suspected.
Cross-Cultural Validity	Validated in multiple languages and clinical populations, maintaining psychometric strength across translations.	Correlations with full MoCA in translated versions r ≈ .75–.85	Supports adaptability and use in multicultural settings.

Property

Summary of Findings Across Studies

Typical Values / Ranges

Interpretation

Score Equivalence to Full MoCA

Scores show moderate to strong correlation with the standard in-person MoCA across clinical and community populations.

r ≈ .70–.90

Telephone format captures similar cognitive constructs as the full MoCA.

Internal Consistency / Reliability

Demonstrates stable scoring patterns and low scoring variability across raters.

ICC > .85 (interrater reliability)

Indicates consistent scoring and administration reliability.

Sensitivity to Cognitive Impairment

Accurately distinguishes individuals with mild cognitive impairment and early Alzheimer’s disease from cognitively healthy individuals.

Sensitivity ≈ .75–.85

Effective for detecting subtle cognitive decline.

Specificity

Appropriately classifies individuals without cognitive impairment.

Specificity ≈ .73–.82

Helps reduce false-positive classifications.

Comparative Performance to Other Telephone Screens

Outperforms the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), especially for early or mild cognitive changes.

T-MoCA sensitivity typically 10– 20% higher than TICS

Favored as a remote screening tool when early impairment is suspected.

Cross-Cultural Validity

Validated in multiple languages and clinical populations, maintaining psychometric strength across translations.

Correlations with full MoCA in translated versions r ≈ .75–.85

Supports adaptability and use in multicultural settings.

Mulchandani, R., Grover, U., Ray, S., Gandotra, S., & Dhamija, R. K., Lyngdoh, T. (2025). Validating the Telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale–Hindi as a remote screening tool for mild cognitive impairment. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/ 10.1097/WNN.0000000000000389
Chappelle, S. D., Gigliotti, C., Leger, G. C., Peavy, G. M., Jacobs, D. M., Banks, S. J., Little, E. A., Galasko, D. R., & Salmon, D. P. (2022). Comparison of the Telephone-Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA) and Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) as remote screening tests for early Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 18, e065917. https://doi.org/10.1002/ alz.065917
Katz, M. J., Wang, C., Nester, C. O., Derby, C. A., Zimmerman, M. E., Lipton, R. B., Sliwinski, M. J., & Rabin, L. A. (2021). T-MoCA: A valid phone screen for cognitive impairment in diverse community samples. Alzheimer’s & Dementia (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 13(1), e12144. https://doi.org/10.1002/ dad2.12144
Nick Yu, C., Zhu, D., Watts, K. L., Abraham, N., & Choice, C. (2021). Implementation of the telephone Montreal Cognitive Assessment in a telemedicine-based pre-admission testing clinic during
COVID-19. Perioperative Care and Operating Room Management, 24, 100191. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.pcorm.2021.100191
Ma, C., Lai, Y., Jiang, C., Du, X., Wang, Z., Zhang, J., … Zhang, W. (2020). Validation of T-MoCA in the screening of mild cognitive impairment in Chinese patients with atrial fibrillation. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocn.2020.06.024
Benge, J. F., & Kiselica, A. M. (2020). Preliminary validation of a telephone-adapted Montreal Cognitive Assessment for the identification of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 34(7–8), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13854046.2020.1769192
Zietemann, V., et al. (2017). Effect of single-test and multiple-test definitions on test accuracy of the original TICS and T-MoCA for any mild cognitive impairment post-stroke. Stroke, 48(8), 2085–2091. https://doi.org/10.1161/STROKEAHA.117.017012

MoCA 5 Minute/ Telephone

What is it?

Cognitive Domains Assessed

Results

Psychometric Properties

References