Reliability and validity of the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status in elderly patients with vascular cognitive impairment

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of the repeatable Battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status(RBANS)in elderly patients with vascular cognitive impairment(VCI). Methods General information and medical history were collected for 102 elderly patients with VCI, and the Mini-Mental State Exam(MMSE)and RBANS were conducted.Eight weeks later, 91 of the patients were re-evaluated on RBANS.Data were analyzed for correlation, reliability and validity. Results The RBANS total score was negatively correlated with age(r=-0.464, P< 0.01)and disease course of diabetes(r=-0.387, P< 0.01), and was positively correlated with education level(r=0.510, P< 0.01). The internal consistency measure, Cronbach’s alpha, for RBANS total scores was 0.87 at an 8-week interval, and the test-retest reliability of single-item scores ranged from 0.61 to 0.77.Moreover, the correlation coefficient between the RBANS total score and the MMSE total score was 0.622.MMSE was correlated with several RBANS indexes, including immediate memory(r=0.672, P< 0.05), attention(r=0.612, P< 0.05), visual span(r=0.488, P< 0.05), delayed memory(r=0.492, P< 0.05), and language(r=0.298, P< 0.05). Likewise, RBANS was correlated with a number of MMSE categories, such as recall(r=0.473, P<0.05), calculation(r=0.597, P<0.05), delayed memory(r=0.489, P<0.05), command(r=0.351, P<0.05), reading comprehension(r=0.325, P<0.05), command execution(r=0.511, P<0.01), sentence construction(r=0.303, P<0.05), and pattern reproduction(r=0.443, P<0.05). Conclusions The Chinese version of RBANS has good reliability and validity in elderly patients with VCI and can be used as a cognitive measurement tool in these patients. Key words: Cognition disorders; Neuropsychological tests