Normative Data for the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory

The demographically diverse populations served by large health care systems (Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, Medicare, Medicaid) are routinely screened with the Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI). The extent to which a patient's report of symptoms either initially and/or across time is affected by demographic variables-gender, ethnicity, age, or education-has not been investigated despite widespread use of the NSI. In practice, the effectiveness of this tool might be improved with demographically based norms. A large data set of normal community-dwelling individuals was collected using the NSI. Emphasis was made to collect data from individuals of diverse ethnic backgrounds. It was hypothesized that ethnic/cultural backgrounds would have an impact on NSI scores. The results provide normative data for the NSI applicable to a wide variety of individuals of various ages and ethnic backgrounds. An analysis of variance indicated there was no significant difference in NSI responses based on ethnic/cultural background; however, age and gender were found to contribute significantly to the variance associated with symptom endorsement. The NSI appears to be a reliable measure of self-report postconcussive symptoms. Age is a variable associated with differential symptom endorsement on the NSI. Follow-up studies are needed to provide a measure of the sensitivity and specificity of this measure.