Prediction of Brain Injury Severity by Subscales of the Alternative Impairment Index

Abstract

A new screening index, the Alternative Impairment Index (AII) reflects the severity of brain damage with hit rates of 60% with the Halstead Impairment Index (HII) and 64% with the General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale (GNDS) and a cross-validation study found a hit rate between the AII and the HII of 66%. This paper explores the use of demographic corrections (e.g., age, education and sex) to enable Cognitive (Cog) and Motor (Mot) Subscales of the AII to predict the severity of brain damage. A sample of 40 normal, psychiatric and brain-damaged subjects with Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery results was selected. The GNDS, HII. Cog and Mot were calculated for each brain-damaged patient. There were 36 males and four women in the subject group. Ages ranged from 19–66 and years of education ranged from 8–22. Demographic corrections produced worse than chance level results (Cog vs. GNDS = 42.5%, Cog vs. HII-42,5%/MOt vs. GNDS-42.5%. Mot vs. HII = 35%).

Key Words:

• Halstead Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery
• Brain damage
• Alternative Impairment Index
• General Neuropsychological Deficit Scale