Normative data for evaluating mild traumatic brain injury with a handheld neurocognitive assessment tool

ABSTRACT

The BrainScope Ahead 300 is designed for use by health care professionals to aid in the assessment of patients suspected of a mild traumatic brain injury. The purpose of the current study was to establish normative data for the cognitive test component of the Ahead 300 system and to evaluate the role of demographic factors on test performance. Healthy, community-dwelling adults between the ages of 18 and 80 recruited from five geographically distributed sites were administered Android versions of the ANAM Matching to Sample and Procedural Reaction Time tests that comprise the cognitive test component of the Ahead 300 system by trained personnel. Scores were correlated with age, education, and race. Age accounted for the majority of the variance in test scores with additional significant, but minor, contributions of education and race. Gender did not account for a significant proportion of the variance for either test. Based on these results, the normative data for 551 individuals are presented stratified by age. These are the first available normative data for these tests when administered using the Ahead 300 system and will assist health care professionals in determining the degree to which scores on the cognitive tests reflect impaired performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Computerized testing
• concussion
• handheld computers
• neuropsychology
• normative study

Notes

¹ANAM is exclusively distributed by Vista LifeSciences, Inc.

²The Ahead 300 is under development. At the time this manuscript was submitted the Ahead 300 had not received premarket clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

³Totals may not add to final sample size due to individuals potentially meeting more than one exclusion criteria.