Criterion-referenced validity of a neuropsychological test battery: equivalent performance in elderly Hispanics and non-Hispanic Whites.

This study examined the validity of the Spanish and English Neuropsychological Assessment Scales (SENAS) in comparison with clinical diagnosis of normal cognition versus cognitive impairment, not demented (CIND) versus demented in elderly Hispanics and Whites. Relationships between SENAS scales and diagnosis were essentially the same in Hispanics and Whites. Verbal memory measures were most strongly related, with more than 35% of the variance in these measures accounted for by diagnosis independent of effects of education, age, gender, and language. Diagnosis accounted for more than 10% of the variance (19% on average) in 11 of the 17 measures examined in this study. Logistic regressions showed that verbal memory was important both for distinguishing normal from CIND and CIND from demented. Object naming improved discrimination of CIND from demented beyond that of verbal memory alone. These results provide evidence of equivalent validity across Hispanics and Whites.