The mini-mental state (MMS) or mini-mental state examination (MMSE) or Folstein test is a test to assess a person's cognitive functions and memory capacity. The mini mental test is used for diagnostic orientation when faced with suspected dementia. It is used in particular in the context of screening for Alzheimer's type dementia.
The test is universal and consists of a series of thirty questions, of varying difficulty, divided into six categories:
assessment of orientation skills in time and space (day, month, year, place, floor);
capacities for learning and transcribing information (the patient takes a sheet and does what he is told with it);
attention and calculation capacities (the patient remembers 3 words then makes a series of mental calculations);
information recall and memory retention abilities (the patient must remember the 3 words);
language and identification skills (objects are shown to the patient and he must name them);
constructive praxis (i.e. the ability to organize a series of movements for a specific purpose by reproducing geometric shapes).
For each of the thirty questions, a correct answer results in a score of 1 and a wrong or approximate answer, a score of 0. The final score is noted out of 30 points.
a score returned at the end of the test less than or equal to 24 points makes it possible to evoke an altered state of consciousness and to direct towards the diagnosis of dementia.
The score is modulated and weighted according to a grid of points corresponding to the socio-cultural origin of the person, his level of study and the total duration of the examination.
Although it is not a diagnostic tool, the type of dementia can be specified according to the sub-scores of each of the parts: memory disorders orient more towards the diagnosis of Alzheimer-type dementia, while attention deficits guide the diagnosis of subcortical dementia, frontal syndrome or even vascular dementia.