12/13/2023 0 Comments Trump moca exam![]() ![]() It depends whether there’s ongoing media interest in this test. We published a letter in JAMA Neurology advising providers to ask people whether they’ve been previously exposed, and for those who have, consider using alternate versions of the test. There are other versions – two and three – that have different word lists and content. All the articles presented version one of the test. Is it best for health providers to avoid this test for the short term? It would be interesting if future tests looked at this. At this point, however, the risk associated with media dissemination is hypothetical. But with people who are healthy or at the very earliest stages of cognitive impairment, there may be some effect. People with more severe cognitive impairment would be unlikely to remember having seen the answers to the test previously. The impact would likely be greatest among people with very mild cognitive impact. It may be that your previous exposure will strengthen your future scores. Previous studies have demonstrated a potential for a learning effect on the MoCA. A smaller proportion even provided answers so people could see how the test is graded. ![]() More than one in six articles invited people to take the test, many posed as a self-challenge. Of those, we found over half revealed either parts of or the full content of the MoCA questionnaire to the general public. We searched the news cycle for a period in January and found 190 articles discussing the MoCA in association with President Trump. We wanted to quantify the degree and nature of the test’s dissemination. As readers were exposed to the test, and in some cases even being invited to self-administer the test online, we wondered if there could be an effect down the road. Watching the news stories on the MoCA in relation to President Trump’s cognitive evaluation, we were impressed by the mass dissemination of information about this test, which was primarily only known to the medical community. Why were you concerned about coverage of the MoCA? Eric Coomes, a third-year medical resident in internal medicine, spoke with U of T writer Heidi Singer about the study. Media covered the story extensively, leading U of T Faculty of Medicine researchers to investigate the impact this exposure could have on test-takers. Recently, Trump’s physician announced that the president achieved a perfect score on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a test for mild cognitive impairment that's often the first step toward dementia. University of Toronto researchers are warning the medical community that a popular cognitive test may be compromised due to the extensive publicity it received after U.S. ![]()
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