Table 2.

Item difficulty and discrimination for the Itel-MMSE

Subtest	Items (N)	Difficulty	Discrimination
Orientation	Temporal (5)	4.01 ± 0.95 (2.42–4.95)	0.38 ± .23 (0–0.58)
	Spatial (4)	9.03 ± 5.94 (4.76–17.81)	2.05 ± 2.58 (0.28–5.79)**
Memory	Immediate recall (3)	4.7 ± 0.84 (3.75–5.38)	0.22 ± 0.29 [(− 0.04)–(0.16)]
	Delayed recall (3)	3.26 ± .36 (2.88–3.58)	0.21 ± 0.44 [(− 0.3)–(0.53)]
Attention	Serial calculation (5)	6.12 ± 3.26 (2.39–11.36)	5.24 ± 3.82 (2.06–11.51)**
Language	Naming (1)	3.42†	0.34
	Repetition (1)	3.51†	0.56

“Canonical” difficulty was addressed as ranging from − 4 to + 4^† [16]. Cut-offs for “high” and “very high” discrimination were set at ≥ 1.5^* and ≥ 1.7^**, respectively [16]. Item difficulty refers to the level of latent ability required for an individual to “pass” an item. Item discrimination refers to the capability of an item to discriminate between individuals having different levels of ability