Validation and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MoCA-B) in Individuals With Low Educational Level (MoCA-B Turkish)

June 2, 2026 updated by: Ali Riza Gunduz, MD, Antalya Training and Research Hospital

Turkish Validity and Reliability Study of the MoCA-B Test

This study aimed to evaluate the validity, reliability, and diagnostic accuracy of the Turkish version of MoCA-B in distinguishing healthy controls, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia patients within a low-education population.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

The prevalence of dementia is steadily increasing, and recognizing cognitive impairment at an early stage-especially during mild cognitive impairment (MCI), before full diagnostic criteria for dementia are met-is crucial. Cognitive screening tools used in individuals with low educational levels often fail to detect MCI. The illiterate version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is insufficient for identifying MCI and early dementia, resulting in delayed diagnosis. The MoCA-Basic (MoCA-B), adapted for low-educated populations and translated into Turkish, has not undergone a validation and reliability study; therefore, it is not routinely used in clinical practice. This study aimed to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Turkish MoCA- B in detecting MCI and dementia, and to compare its diagnostic performance with the MMSE and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR).

This study included 55 patients with MCI, 56 with dementia, and 55 healthy controls (total n=166) who presented to the Dementia and Neurology Clinics of Antalya Training and Research Hospital between January 2024 and November 2025. After a detailed mental status examination, participants underwent MoCA-B, MMSE (illiterate version), and CDR assessments. Internal consistency was measured using Cronbach's alpha, and test-retest reliability using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Group differences were analyzed with one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc testing. Correlations between MoCA-B, MMSE, and CDR were evaluated with Pearson correlation. Diagnostic accuracy was assessed through ROC analyses, and optimal cut- off values were determined using the Youden index.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

166

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
    • Muratpaşa
      • Antalya, Muratpaşa, Turkey (Türkiye), 07030
        • Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Neurology Department, University of Health Sciences (SBÜ), Türkiye

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adults aged 50-100 years presenting with memory complaints were recruited from the Neurology and Dementia outpatient clinics of Antalya Training and Research Hospital (January 2024-November 2025). Eligibility required low educational attainment (illiterate to primary school level). The study enrolled 166 participants, including healthy controls (n=55), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) cases (n=55), and dementia cases (n=56), all clinically characterized within routine specialty-care evaluation.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 50-100 years
  • Presented with memory complaints and were evaluated in the Neurology/Dementia outpatient clinics of Antalya Training and Research Hospital (Jan 2024-Nov 2025)
  • Low educational attainment (illiterate to primary school level)
  • Provided informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Active psychiatric disorders / active psychopathology
  • Intracranial mass lesions
  • Secondary causes of dementia
  • Severe medical conditions affecting cognition
  • History of traumatic brain injury

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Control
Healthy controls
Dementia
Patients who had dementia
MCI
Patients who had mild cognitive impairment

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
MoCA-B cut off points
Time Frame: at baseline and after 4 weeks (test-retest)
Calculating cutoff values for dementia and MCI in untrained individuals using the MoCA-B test.
at baseline and after 4 weeks (test-retest)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Correlations of MoCA-B total score with MMSE and CDR
Time Frame: data were collected between January 2024 and November 2025.
As a secondary endpoint, Pearson correlation (level of relationship) of the MoCA-B total score with MMSE and/or CDR total scores was evaluated to demonstrate concurrent criterion validity.
data were collected between January 2024 and November 2025.
Subdomain-level analyses
Time Frame: Data were collected between January 2024 and November 2025
The subdomain-level analyses for the MoCA-B test aimed to determine which domains best facilitated diagnostic differentiation by evaluating, using ANOVA and post-hoc tests, whether subtest scores such as executive function, memory, and attention differed significantly between control, HKB, and dementia groups.
Data were collected between January 2024 and November 2025

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Educational/demographic factors in the use of MoCA-B testing.
Time Frame: Data were collected between January 2024 and November 2025
The aim of this study was to examine whether the MoCA-B total score and its subgroups are affected not only by disease status but also by characteristics such as years of education, age, gender, marital status, additional illnesses, and family history.
Data were collected between January 2024 and November 2025

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Antalya Training and Research Hospital

Investigators

  • Study Chair: Aylin YAMAN, Prof. MD., Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Neurology Department, University of Health Sciences (SBÜ), Türkiye
  • Study Director: Ali Rıza GÜNDÜZ, MD, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Neurology Department, University of Health Sciences (SBÜ), Türkiye

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

November 1, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

March 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 2, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 5, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 2, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2024-018

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

De-identified individual participant data underlying the primary and secondary analyses will be shared, including: participant age, sex, education level, diagnostic group (healthy control/MCI/dementia), MoCA-B total score and domain/subtest scores, MMSE total score and domain scores, CDR global score, comorbidity status, marital status, and family history of dementia. No direct identifiers (e.g., name, national ID, address, exact dates) will be shared; a data dictionary/codebook will accompany the dataset.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 6 months after publication and ending 24 months after publication.

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Veriler, makul bir talep üzerine paylaşılacaktır. Talepte bulunanların metodolojik olarak sağlam bir öneri sunmaları ve çalışma ekibinden onay almaları gerekmektedir. Erişim, imzalı bir veri kullanım sözleşmesi gerektirecektir. Veriler, kimliksizleştirilmiş biçimde sağlanacaktır.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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