WAIS-4 Findings in Mildly to Severely Traumatic Brain Injured Patients and Investigation of Demographically Corrected Norms

Event Name/Location

31st Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Neuropsychology

Event Location / Date(s)

Marco Island, FL / November 16-19, 2011

Presentation Date

11-16-2011

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Presenter(s)/Author(s)

Allison Myers
S. Ireland
Edward R. Simco, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow
C. Carroll
Wiley Mittenberg, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Description

Abstract

Objective: The sensitivity of the WAIS-4 to head trauma severity and the diagnostic validity of demographically corrected WAIS-4 norms were investigated among head-injured adults.

Method: Forty-seven ethnically diverse patients between the ages of 18–89 were selected from admissions at a major trauma center. Participants who had sustained a closed-head injury were tested 1–36 months post-injury. Patients had sustained mild-to-severe TBI and scored 75 or greater on the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test (GOAT) at the time of testing. Neuroimaging and admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores were used to confirm the injury and corresponding severity. Patients were administered core subtests of the WAIS-4 and the standard and Advanced Clinical Solutions (ACS) Demographically Adjusted T-scores were calculated. Results: Patients with lower GCS scores showed more impaired Processing Speed (r = .34). Length of PTA (r = −.36) and length of coma (r = −.29) were associated with lower PSI scores. Demographic-adjusted PSI was associated only with PTA (r= −.35). VCI (M =91.62, SD = 15.67) was significantly higher than PSI (M =78.28, SD = 17.89) for age-corrected norms and for demographic-adjusted index T-scores.

Conclusions: Results were consistent with prior literature, indicating that the WAIS-IV IQ and indexes are reduced significantly by traumatic brain injury, and that more severe injuries are likely to show the most pronounced effect on the PSI. There was no evidence that corrections for educational level, ethnicity, and gender improved the sensitivity of the WAIS-IV to injury severity beyond that obtained by corrections for age.

Comments

Organization Website

Abstract from 2011 Conference

NSUWorks Citation

Myers, A., Ireland, S., Simco, E. R., Carroll, C., Mittenberg, W. (2011). WAIS-4 Findings in Mildly to Severely Traumatic Brain Injured Patients and Investigation of Demographically Corrected Norms. 31st Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Neuropsychology.
Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cps_facpresentations/1604