T-MoCA: A valid phone screen for cognitive impairment in diverse community samples.

<p><b>INTRODUCTION: </b>There is an urgent need to validate telephone versions of widely used general cognitive measures, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (T-MoCA), for remote assessments.</p><p><b>METHODS: </b>In the Einstein Aging Study, a diverse community cohort (n = 428; mean age = 78.1; 66% female; 54% non-White), equivalence testing was used to examine concordance between the T-MoCA and the corresponding in-person MoCA assessment. Receiver operating characteristic analyses examined the diagnostic ability to discriminate between mild cognitive impairment and normal cognition. Conversion methods from T-MoCA to the MoCA are presented.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>Education, race/ethnicity, gender, age, self-reported cognitive concerns, and telephone administration difficulties were associated with both modes of administration; however, when examining the difference between modalities, these factors were not significant. Sensitivity and specificity for the T-MoCA (using Youden's index optimal cut) were 72% and 59%, respectively.</p><p><b>DISCUSSION: </b>The T-MoCA demonstrated sufficient psychometric properties to be useful for screening of MCI, especially when clinic visits are not feasible.</p>