The RAPID Neuropsychological Test Battery for Subjects Aged 50-89: From Norms to Cognitive Profile

Background/Aims: It is well established that healthy adults obtain low performances when simultaneously interpreting the results of multiple tests. The aim of this study was to estimate the proportion of French-speaking healthy older adults with low scores for the RAPID (Reseau d'Aide au diagnostic et a la PrIse en charge des Deteriorations cognitives et de maladies neurologiques chroniques en Franche-Comte et au niveau national) battery test and consider different combinations of test scores within a specific domain and across different domains. Methods: The prevalence of low scores (i.e., <= 5th percentile) on the 14 RAPID primary measures was calculated from the RAPID normative sample (n = 476), based on 4 ages (50-89 years) and 3 levels of education. Results: A high percentage (40.1%) of the normative sample obtained at least one or more low scores (i.e., false positives). In contrast, the risk of having low scores was much less important (<2%) when considering the combinations of 2 test-scores. Conclusion: Low scores are very common in healthy older subjects and are thus not necessarily pathological or indicative of truly impaired functioning. The information derived from a cognitive profile may provide a greater clinical relevance in an individual, since very few of the healthy older adults obtained low scores on combinations of 2 test-scores. (C) 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel