The Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination: psychometric properties in use with psychiatric inpatients

The present investigation sought to enhance clinical utility of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE; Northern California Neurobehavioral Group, Inc.) by providing reference scores for an inpatient psychiatric sample and assessing construct validity. A total of 866 patients (aged 15-92 years) received an NCSE 2 to 4 days after admission. Examination of means, standard deviations, z scores, and percent who passed each screening item revealed consistently poorer performance for psychiatric patients relative to the original normative sample. Pearson product-moment correlations between age and each NCSE subtest similarly yielded significant negative correlations, particularly on tests predicted to be differentially sensitive to aging. Intercorrelations between subtests, however, failed to yield expected patterns of performance. We conclude that the NCSE provides a moderately valid screening instrument for cognitive impairment.