Neurological predictor scale is associated with academic achievement outcomes in long-term survivors of childhood brain tumors.

Abstract

Survivors of childhood brain tumors exhibit impairments in academic performance and have lower rates of educational attainment compared to healthy same-aged peers. Prior research has demonstrated the concurrent validity of the Neurological Predictor Scale (NPS), a measure that incorporates tumor-related treatments and complications into one cumulative score, in predicting IQ, adaptive functioning, and core neurocognitive skills. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the NPS predicts academic achievement outcomes over and above the effects of individual treatment factors alone. Sixty-two adult survivors completed four untimed measures of academic achievement from the Woodcock-Johnson III. NPS scores significantly predicted performance on all four academic measures: Letter Word ID (R2 = - 0.454, p < .01), Calculation (R2 = - 0.494, p < .01), Spelling (R2 = - 0.428, p < .01) and Passage Comprehension (R2 = - 0.447, p < .01). 16% of survivors were impaired on the Letter Word ID, 23% on Calculation, 19% on Spelling, and 11% on Passage Comprehension subtests with impairment defined as z ≤ - 1.5. The NPS predicted academic outcomes over and above chemotherapy, surgery, seizure medication, endocrine dysfunction, hydrocephalus, and radiation on all measures. This study extends prior research by demonstrating that the NPS is significantly associated with academic achievement in survivors on average 15.9years after diagnosis. The NPS may be especially helpful in clinical research when studies lack the statistical power to investigate how treatments and neurological conditions individually contribute to outcomes.