Assessing Cognitive Decline in High-Functioning Spanish-Speaking Patients: High Score Base Rates on the...

Prior research has focused on the normal frequency of obtaining low scores on a neuropsychological test battery, but few studies have examined the normal frequency of obtaining high scores. This study involved the preparation of high score multivariate base rates for the Spanish-language National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox Cognition Battery (NIHTB-CB).

Participants included 250 healthy Latinx adults (age range: 19-80) from the Spanish-language NIHTB-CB normative sample who completed the full battery (two crystallized and four fluid cognition tests). Multivariate base rates, stratified by education, crystallized ability, and sociocultural characteristics, quantified the frequency at which participants obtained one or more "high" fluid test scores (i.e., ≥50th, ≥63rd, ≥75th, ≥84th, ≥91st, ≥95th, and ≥ 98th percentile).

It was common for participants to obtain one or more high scores (i.e., 50.8% obtained one or more scores ≥84th percentile) and uncommon for participants to obtain "no" high scores, especially when using non-conventional thresholds for defining a high score (i.e., 10.8% obtained no scores ≥50th percentile). High scores were more commonly obtained by participants with greater education and higher crystallized ability, who were bilingual, born and educated within the United States, and from higher income households.

This study demonstrated that participants administered multiple neuropsychological tests commonly obtain high scores, and that the frequency of high scores varies by education, crystallized ability, and sociocultural characteristics. The absence of high scores may be indicative of cognitive impairment among examinees who are higher functioning, have greater education, and have specific sociocultural characteristics (e.g., bilingualism, higher socioeconomic status).