MMST
Updated onMartina Feichter studied biology with an elective subject pharmacy in Innsbruck and also immersed herself in the world of medicinal plants. From there it was not far to other medical topics that still captivate her to this day. She trained as a journalist at the Axel Springer Academy in Hamburg and has been working for since 2007 - first as an editor and since 2012 as a freelance writer.
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MMST is the abbreviation for "Mini Mental Status Test". This is a simple dementia test that is used very often. It consists of a questionnaire with the help of which the cognitive abilities of the test person such as orientation and memory can be assessed. Read everything important about the process and evaluation of the MMST here!
ICD codes for this disease: ICD codes are internationally recognized codes for medical diagnoses. They can be found, for example, in doctor's letters or on certificates of incapacity for work. F03F02F01G31F00G30
Early detection of dementia using MMST
The MMST (Mini Mental Status Text) is used to determine the cognitive abilities of older people. It is a very commonly used dementia test.
The Mini Mental Status Test consists of a simple questionnaire. On the basis of the various tasks, brain performance such as orientation, memory, attention, arithmetic and language are tested.
Some tasks in the MMST
In order to test the ability to orientate yourself, the MMST contains, for example, the following questions:
- What year are we living in?
- What time of the year is it now?
- What is today's date?
- What place are we in?
- Where are we (in which practice / which nursing home)?
- On which floor?
The memory capacity is tested in the MMST, for example, by the patient having to repeat three different terms that the examiner slowly says first (such as lemon, key, ball). There are points for every correct term. After a few other tasks, the examiner asks the patient if he can still remember the three terms mentioned above.
The MMST checks attention and arithmetic using the following task: "Count backwards in steps of seven, starting at 100." After five subtractions, a stop is made and the examiner counts the correct answers.
In another task, the patient is shown a wristwatch and asked what it is. The whole thing is then repeated with a pencil.
The Mini Mental Status Test also checks whether the patient can repeat a certain expression (for example: "Without ifs and buts") with only one attempt.
Another task in the MMS includes a three-part command that the patient should obey: "Take a sheet of paper in your hand, fold it in half and place it on the floor." There is one point for each correctly performed action.
In further tasks, the patient should write down any complete sentence (of his own choosing) (with subject and verb) and precisely mark two intersecting pentagons.
MMST: evaluation
The MMST takes about ten minutes. At the end, the examiner adds up all the points that the patient has achieved in the various tasks (maximum: 30 points). For Alzheimer's, by far the most common form of dementia, the result is assessed as follows:
- 20 - 26 points: mild Alzheimer's dementia
- 10 - 19 points: moderate Alzheimer's dementia
- <10 points: severe Alzheimer's dementia
Weaknesses of the MMST
Because the MMST can be carried out so quickly and easily, it is widely used in dementia diagnostics. But it also has shortcomings. The MMST is not very sensitive to minor cognitive deficits, which means that it is difficult to determine slight cognitive impairments.
In addition, the MMST easily leads to false-negative results in people with a high level of education (i.e. that dementia is not recognized). Conversely, patients with a low level of education can quickly lead to a false-positive result.
Another weakness of the MMST is that the various cognitive abilities cannot be assessed in a more differentiated manner. It is therefore often combined with other test procedures.
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