The Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire (SPMSQ)

Question
Response
Incorrect Responses
1. What are the date, month, and year?    
2. What is the day of the week?    
3. What is the name of this place?    
4. What is your phone number?    
5. How old are you?    
6. When were you born?    
7. Who is the current president?    
8. Who was the president before him?    
9. What was your mother's maiden name?    
10. Can you count backward from 20 by 3's?    

 

SCORING:*

0-2 errors: normal mental functioning

3-4 errors: mild cognitive impairment

5-7 errors: moderate cognitive impairment

8 or more errors: severe cognitive impairment

*One more error is allowed in the scoring if a patient has had a grade school education or less.
*One less error is allowed if the patient has had education beyond the high school level.

Source: Pfeiffer, E. (1975). A short portable mental status questionnaire for the assessment of organic brain deficit in elderly patients. Journal of American Geriatrics Society. 23, 433-41.

Compiled by the Great Plains Area Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association, 1999.

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