Cardiac arrest & resuscitation

Combined use of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Symbol Digit Modalities Test improves neurocognitive screening accuracy after cardiac arrest: A validation sub-study of the TTM2 trial

ResuscitationPublished Diagnostic accuracy study

Authors' conclusion

The MoCA and SDMT have acceptable diagnostic accuracy for screening for neurocognitive impairment in an OHCA population, and when used in combination the sensitivity improves. Patient and observer-reports correspond poorly with neurocognitive performance.

Study context

Population
Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survivors in the TTM2 trial, assessed at 6 months
Participants
108 OHCA survivors
Comparison
Neurocognitive screening tools (Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Two Simple Questions (TSQ), Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly-Cardiac Arrest (IQCODE-CA)) vs comprehensive neuropsychological test battery (gold standard)
Outcome
Sensitivity and specificity for neurocognitive impairment vs comprehensive neuropsychological test battery
Follow-up
6 months
Methodological detailsvalidation sub-study of the TTM2 trial
  • Validation sub-study of the TTM2 trial

Performance

As reported in the abstract

Neurocognitive impairment
Test or modelAUCSensitivitySpecificity
MoCA— not stated in the abstract0.640.85
SDMT— not stated in the abstract0.590.83
TSQ— not stated in the abstract0.280.74
IQCODE-CA— not stated in the abstract0.420.60
MoCA or SDMT combined0.77 (95% CI 0.69, 0.85)0.810.74

AUC

MoCA— not stated in the abstract
SDMT— not stated in the abstract
TSQ— not stated in the abstract
IQCODE-CA— not stated in the abstract
MoCA or SDMT combined0.77 (95% CI 0.69, 0.85)

Sensitivity

MoCA0.64
SDMT0.59
TSQ0.28
IQCODE-CA0.42
MoCA or SDMT combined0.81

Specificity

MoCA0.85
SDMT0.83
TSQ0.74
IQCODE-CA0.60
MoCA or SDMT combined0.74

— not stated in the abstract

Further findings

Unidentified impairments by domain

Most common unidentified impairments in episodic memory and executive functions; fewer false negatives with MoCA or SDMT combined

Original publication

Combined use of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Symbol Digit Modalities Test improves neurocognitive screening accuracy after cardiac arrest: A validation sub-study of the TTM2 trial. Resuscitation. Published 13 August 2024. doi:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2024.110361

Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →

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