Performance of stroke patients on the Middlesex Elderly Assessment of Mental State

Abstract

As the population of elderly people rises, so too does the incidence of stroke. Cognitive impairment is considered to be a strong predictor of outcome following stroke, and elderly patients may have pre-existing, undiagnosed cognitive impairment as well as impairment caused by the stroke. The present study describes the performance of patients with unilateral hemispheric stroke (right hemisphere, n = 38; left hemisphere, n = 17) on the Middlesex Elderly Assessment of Mental Status (MEAMS), which was developed as a screening tool of cognitive dysfunction for elderly patients.1 Patients had no documented evidence of premorbid cognitive impairment. All patients with scores at borderline or below (n = 7) had language impairment and thus had difficulty with the language-oriented tests. Differences between right and left hemisphere groups are also presented and their performance on the various subtests discussed. It is concluded that the MEAMS is a useful instrument in screening stroke patients for cognitive impairment.