The Montreal cognitive assessment is superior to national institute of neurological disease and stroke-Canadian stroke network 5-minute protocol in predicting vascular cognitive impairment at 1 year

BACKGROUND: The predictive ability of National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke-Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) 5-minute protocol and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) administered sub-acutely and at the convalescent phase after stroke for significant vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) at 1 year is unknown. We compared prognostic values of these tests. METHODS: Patients with ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) received MoCA sub-acutely (within 2 weeks) and 3–6 months after stroke followed by a formal neuropsychological evaluation at 1 year. The total score of NINDS-CSN 5-minutes protocol was derived from MoCA. Moderate-severe VCI was defined as neuropsychological impairment in ≥ 3 domains. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) analyses were conducted to establish the optimal cutoff points and discriminatory properties of the MoCA and NINDS-CSN 5-minute protocol in detecting moderate-severe VCI. RESULTS: Four hundre patients were recruited at baseline. Of these, 291 received a formal neuropsychological assessment 1 year after stroke. 19 % patients had moderate-severe VCI. The MoCA was superior to the NINDS-CSN 5-minute protocol [sub-acute AUCs: 0.89 vs 0.80, p < 0.01; 3–6 months AUCs: 0.90 vs 0.83, p < 0.01] in predicting for moderate-severe VCI at 1 year. At respective cutoff points, MoCA had significantly higher sensitivity than the NINDS-CSN 5-minute protocol at baseline (p = 0.01) and 3–6 months (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: MoCA administered sub-acutely and 3–6 months after stroke is superior to the NINDS-CSN 5-minute protocol in predicting moderate-severe VCI at 1 year. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-016-0570-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.