Generalizability of reliable change equations for the RBANS over one year in community-dwelling older adults

ABSTRACT

Objective: Reliable change methods can assist neuropsychologists in determining whether observed changes in a patient’s performance are clinically meaningful. The current study sought to validate previously published standardized regression-based (SRB) equations for the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) Indexes and subtests.

Methods: Duff and colleagues’s SRB prediction equations, developed from 223 cognitively intact primary care patients, were applied to an independent sample of robustly cognitively intact (n = 129) community-dwelling older adults assessed with the RBANS twice over a one-year period.

Results: Results suggest that the cognitively intact participants in the current validation sample possessed significantly better Observed Follow-up scores than was predicted based on Duff’s developmental sample across most RBANS Indexes and many RBANS subtests, though significantly lower Observed Follow-up scores were observed for the Visuospatial/Constructional Index than was predicted. As a result of these findings, the current study calculated updated prediction algorithms for the RBANS Index and subtest scores from the sample of 129 cognitively intact participants.

Conclusions: Duff’s 2004 and 2005 SRB prediction equations for the RBANS Index and subtest scores failed to generalize to a sample of cognitively intact community-dwelling participants recruited from senior living centers and independent assisted living facilities. These updated SRB prediction equations – being developed from a more medically “clean” sample of cognitively intact older adults who remained stable over 12 months – have the potential to provide a more accurate assessment of reliable change in an individual patient.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognition
• reliable change
• assessment
• mild cognitive impairment

Acknowledgments

The project described was supported by research grants from the National Institutes on Aging: R03 AG025850 and K23 AG028417. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Aging or the National Institutes of Health.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, DBH, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the NIH/NIA [5R01AG045163].