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The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS): preliminary clinical validity
Randolph C, Tierney MC, Mohr E, Chase TN.. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 1998-06-01
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Plain-language summary
Neuropsychological assessment of older individuals with dementing illnesses has suffered from a lack of appropriately designed test instruments. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) was developed for the dual purposes of identifying and characterizing abnormal cognitive decline in the older adult and as a neuropsychological screening battery for younger patients. The entire battery takes less than 30 minutes to administer, and yields scaled scores for five cognitive domains. The current study reports preliminary clinical validity results with the RBANS, comparing very mildly demented patients with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease (n = 20) to patients with Huntington's disease (n = 20) and normal controls (n = 40). Although the patient groups had essentially identical total scores on the RBANS, they exhibited opposite profiles, differing significantly on four of the five subsections. The AD patients performed most poorly on Language, and Delayed Memory subsections, while the HD patients obtained their lowest scaled scores on the Attention and the Visuospatial/Constructional subsections. These results are consistent with the neuropsychological profiles of these dementing disorders derived from lengthier standardized tests and experimental investigations. In addition, even those patients who performed above the suggested cut-off points on the MMSE and the Dementia Rating Scale scored significantly below their controls on the RBANS. These data suggest that the RBANS is effective at both detecting and characterizing dementia of different etiologies.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Randolph, C., Tierney, M. C., Mohr, E., & Chase, T. N. (1998). The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS): preliminary clinical validity. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology. https://doi.org/10.1076/jcen.20.3.310.823
Vancouver
Randolph C, Tierney MC, Mohr E, Chase TN. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS): preliminary clinical validity. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology. 1998. doi:10.1076/jcen.20.3.310.823. PMID: 9845158.
BibTeX
@article{randolph1998-9845158,
author = {Randolph, C. and Tierney, M. C. and Mohr, E. and Chase, T. N.},
title = {{The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS): preliminary clinical validity}},
journal = {Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology},
year = {1998},
doi = {10.1076/jcen.20.3.310.823},
pmid = {9845158},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1076/jcen.20.3.310.823}
}
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Key findings
- The current study reports preliminary clinical validity results with the RBANS, comparing very mildly demented patients with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease (n = 20) to patients with Huntington's disease (n = 20) and normal controls (n = 40).
- Although the patient groups had essentially identical total scores on the RBANS, they exhibited opposite profiles, differing significantly on four of the five subsections.
- These results are consistent with the neuropsychological profiles of these dementing disorders derived from lengthier standardized tests and experimental investigations.
- In addition, even those patients who performed above the suggested cut-off points on the MMSE and the Dementia Rating Scale scored significantly below their controls on the RBANS.
- These data suggest that the RBANS is effective at both detecting and characterizing dementia of different etiologies.
Why it matters
This preliminary study found that the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) produced opposite cognitive profiles in very mildly demented Alzheimer's disease patients compared with Huntington's disease patients, despite similar total scores. It is an assessment tool study with small samples (20 AD patients, 20 HD patients, 40 controls), not a treatment, cure, or prevention study.
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Study details
- Participants20
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 51/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology: journal h-index 179 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 1998 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 20 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 7 / 7 | Cited 2,519 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 84.0 citations a year over 30 year(s) since 1998 |
| Impact for its field and year | 1 / 6 | Cited 0.7× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 27 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 4 / 4 | Cited 538 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Thomas N. Chase: h-index 96 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 0 / 3 | Loyola University Medical Center: institution h-index 445 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 9845158) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 51 / 100 | — |
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