Mom scored 5/30 on the memory test - how bad is that?

Probably speaking to the person who gave her the test (we weren't there) would give you some idea of what you're looking at.

I doubt there's a set 'number' that indicates that a person is far worse or better than you think-this is simply a diagnostic tool to help drs and CG's know what to expect of the patient.

There's nothing that says a '5' means 1 more year or 6 months. It simply shows a decrease in mental function. You know the person better. You see the decline. I've known many people who were deemed almost completely incompetent with dementia keep going for years. (Not pleasant ones, I admit) but the body and mind are separate in many ways.

You can go along physically for a lot longer with no sense of who you are or what you're doing (the broken brain idea) and in some ways, feeling little to no 'stress' about health and well being can make for a longer life.

Thanks for the responses. I probably wasn’t very clear in my question. What I was really asking was given such a very low score - is there a clearer timeline. Currently she lives with me - and I don’t need to tell you folks how draining that is. There has been a sharp decline and I am trying to decide what to do. To be blunt, if I thought she only had a short time left to live I would “grin and bear it”. If we have many more years I may need to start looking for a facility.

This is a seriously low score. And I know they try to err on the side of 'test stress' and actually kind of give clues b/c these kinds of tests are stressful.

This is a solid D- or F, if you need to have a letter grade. Does that put it in perspective?

Looks like 24/7 care is your option now.

The Dr. probably ASSUMED you understood the number score. Perhaps a chat with him will help you to understand it.

Also the internet has a LOT to say--so maybe do some research on your own and see what you can garner.

Who is the POA for Health Care? That person should ask for a complete diagnostic update and to get it in writing so that moving forward people can work in your Mother's behalf. The one thing you can be certain of at this point is that there is a lot of worsening of your Mom's condition, as apparently she was at the halfway point two years ago, and is far deminished from that score. Wishing you the best of luck.

I think you can intuit that 5/30 on any kind of test is not very good, on the MMSE anything below 9 is considered severe dementia.

https://www.dementiacarecentral.com/mini-mental-state-exam/

From my own experience, my MIL was living by herself (and only 6 miles from me). I discovered that, even when I called her up every day and walked her through taking her meds and telling her to eat, none of this was happening on her end. At her house I'd discover no evidence she had eaten anything yet when I asked her she'd list a bunch of foods she thought she ate. But there'd be rotting food in her fridge, no food containers or waste in her trash, no dirty dishes. Once she nearly fainted when out in public with us -- she hadn't eaten for who knows how many days. Also, even with a pill minder box I'd find all the pills out and scattered on the table. My point in writing this is to help you understand that your mom now needs to have all-day help.

This is from alz.org:

https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/diagnosis/medical_tests#:~:text=The%20maximum%20MMSE%20score%20is,to%20four%20points%20each%20year.