Gender differences on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status subtests in older adults: Baseline and retest data

Abstract

Gender differences have been widely reported across a range of cognitive ability tasks, and these differences appear to persist across the lifespan into later adulthood. The current study assessed the influence of gender on the subtests of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) in a large cohort (n = 718) of older adult primary care patients. Males (n = 300) were compared to females (n = 418) on the 12 subtests of the RBANS, after controlling for age and education. Significant differences were found on 9 of the subtests. Therefore, gender corrected normative data were calculated, which also control for age and education. Test–retest data were also examined in a subset of this sample (n = 446) that was reevaluated at 1 year. Males and females were comparable on 1-year practice effects. By controlling for additional systematic bias in RBANS scores (e.g., gender effects), these findings allow clinicians and researchers to better match patients and participants when using this screening battery.

Keywords:

• Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status
• Lifespan
• Gender
• Cognitive ability
• Systematic bias

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to extend their thanks to the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center for their continued support of this project, especially to Michelle M. Roberts, who was integral to collecting this data.