The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Chinese-Language Los Angeles version (MoCA-ChLA) was developed and administered during an in-home interview to 1,192 participants (mean age 62.5 years, mean education 11.6 years) in a population-based Chinese American Eye Study (CHES) in Los Angeles. The MoCA-ChLA score (mean ± SD) was with little ceiling and no floor effects. The score increased with higher education, decreased with advancing age, and was not related to gender. Compared to the education 1–6 years group, the mean MoCA-ChLA score was 2.6 and 4.6 higher in the education 7–11 and 12–20 years groups, respectively. The Mandarin- ( ) and Cantonese- ( ) speaking subgroups performed comparably; Cronbach's alpha of the MoCA-ChLA score was 0.78 and 0.79 for these two groups, respectively. Item response theory analysis showed good discriminating power for executive function and memory. These properties support the MoCA-ChLA as a useful screening tool for aging and dementia studies for Mandarin or Cantonese speakers. 1. Introduction The Chinese American population is one of the most rapidly growing minorities in the United States [1, 2]. According to the USA Bureau of the Census (2010), the number of Chinese Americans increased 229% from 1.62 to 3.8 million from 1990 to 2010 [2]. One-third of Chinese Americans (1.25 million) reside in California, and the number of Chinese Americans with dementia is expected to more than triple in the next 30 years [3]. However, few studies have focused on the screening for cognitive impairment among Chinese-Americans. Linguistically and culturally appropriate cognitive screening tests to detect and stage cognitive impairment are needed to facilitate early detection and intervention. The lack of such instruments also limits the participation of Chinese Americans in cognitive and aging research. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is a brief cognitive screening test designed to distinguish individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who perform in the normal range of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) from cognitively normal elderly [4]. Since Chinese Americans migrated primarily from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, the Chinese-speaking population in the USA consists of three major cultural subgroups whose primary dialect is Mandarin [Putonghua], Cantonese, or Taiwanese [5]. These three groups may use different words or expressions for some concepts and may differ in level of education. We therefore translated and adapted the MoCA for Mandarin-, Cantonese-, and Taiwanese-speaking Chinese Americans with
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