Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jan;31(1):42-52.
doi: 10.1017/S1355617724000444. Epub 2024 Dec 20.

Retest reliability and reliable change of community-dwelling Black/African American older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment using NIH Toolbox-Cognition Battery and Cogstate Brief Battery for laptop

Taylor Rigby  1   2   3   4 , Voyko Kavcic  5 , Sarah R Shair  4 , Tanisha G Hill-Jarrett  6   7 , Sarah Garcia  8 , Jon Reader  1   9 , Carol Persad  1   2 , Arijit K Bhaumik  1   2   9 , Subhamoy Pal  1   9 , Benjamin M Hampstead  1   2   4 , Bruno Giordani  1   2
Affiliations

Retest reliability and reliable change of community-dwelling Black/African American older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment using NIH Toolbox-Cognition Battery and Cogstate Brief Battery for laptop

Taylor Rigby et al. J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2025 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: With the increased use of computer-based tests in clinical and research settings, assessing retest reliability and reliable change of NIH Toolbox-Cognition Battery (NIHTB-CB) and Cogstate Brief Battery (Cogstate) is essential. Previous studies used mostly White samples, but Black/African Americans (B/AAs) must be included in this research to ensure reliability.

Method: Participants were B/AA consensus-confirmed healthy controls (HCs) (n = 49) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (n = 34) adults 60-85 years that completed NIHTB-CB and Cogstate for laptop at two timepoints within 4 months. Intraclass correlations, the Bland-Altman method, t-tests, and the Pearson correlation coefficient were used. Cut scores indicating reliable change provided.

Results: NIHTB-CB composite reliability ranged from .81 to .93 (95% CIs [.37-.96]). The Fluid Composite demonstrated a significant difference between timepoints and was less consistent than the Crystallized Composite. Subtests were less consistent for MCIs (ICCs = .01-.89, CIs [-1.00-.95]) than for HCs (ICCs = .69-.93, CIs [.46-.92]). A moderate correlation was found for MCIs between timepoints and performance on the Total Composite (r = -.40, p = .03), Fluid Composite (r = -.38, p = .03), and Pattern Comparison Processing Speed (r = -.47, p = .006).On Cogstate, HCs had lower reliability (ICCs = .47-.76, CIs [.05-.86]) than MCIs (ICCs = .65-.89, CIs [.29-.95]). Identification reaction time significantly improved between testing timepoints across samples.

Conclusions: The NIHTB-CB and Cogstate for laptop show promise for use in research with B/AAs and were reasonably stable up to 4 months. Still, differences were found between those with MCI and HCs. It is recommended that race and cognitive status be considered when using these measures.

Keywords: Computerized neuropsychological assessment; computerized cognitive assessment; practice effects; psychometrics; reliability of tests; reproducibility of results.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

References

    1. Alzheimer’s Association. (2022). More than Normal aging: understanding mild cognitive impairment. Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and figures. https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures-special...
    1. Arevalo-Rodriguez I, Smailagic N, Roqué-Figuls M, Ciapponi A, Sanchez-Perez E, Giannakou A, … & Cullum S (2021). Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for the early detection of dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (7). 10.1002/14651858.CD010783.pub3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bastin C, & Salmon E (2014). Early neuropsychological detection of Alzheimer’s disease. European journal of clinical nutrition, 68(11), 1192–1199. 10.1038/ejcn.2014.176 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bland JM, & Altman DG (1995). Comparing methods of measurement: why plotting difference against standard method is misleading. The lancet, 346(8982), 1085–1087. 10.1016/S0140-6736(95)91748-9 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chelune GJ, Naugle RI, Luders H, Sedlak J, & Awad IA (1993). Individual change after epilepsy surgery: Practice effects and base-rate information. Neuropsychology, 7(1), 41–52. 10.1037/0894-4105.7.1.41 - DOI