Estimation of verbal intelligence in an elderly community: an epidemiological study using NART

The National Adult Reading Test (NART) has become widely used by psychologists in clinical practice as part of the assessment of cognitive decline in organic mental disorders. Some normative data have been presented on community samples from a wide range of ages, but little is known of the instrument's performance in true community samples of the elderly. This study presents data on NART from an epidemiological study of dementia and cognitive impairment in elderly women. The contribution of educational level and social class to performance on the scale was examined. NART was found to be strongly related to current level of cognitive function as measured by the Mini Mental State Examination and CAMCOG-the neuropsychological battery of the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders in the Elderly. For most subjects in the community the NART was found acceptable as a measure of premorbid intelligence.