Mini‐Mental State Exam Scores Vary with Education in Blacks and Whites

Previous studies have suggested that education and race may affect performance on standardized mental status tests. In order to more clearly define these relationships, a prospective longitudinal study was devised to answer two questions: (1) whether race or level of education affects scores on the Mini‐Mental State (MMS) exam in non‐demented people and (2) what numerical cutpoints maximize the sensitivity and specificity of utilizing the MMS to help diagnose dementia in blacks of varying educational attainment.

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