The Assessment of Changes in Cognitive Functioning: Reliable Change Indices for Neuropsychological Instruments in the Elderly – A Systematic Review
Abstract
Background/aims The determination of meaningful cognitive change over time is essential for the diagnosis of dementia in the elderly. Reliable change indices (RCIs) represent a suitable methodology to assess clinically significant cognitive change. The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of RCI scores in elderly persons for neuropsychological tests currently available. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted. Longitudinal studies dealing with the assessment of RCIs for cognitive instruments and cognitively healthy older participants were reviewed. Quality of studies was determined using a standardized system of evaluating methodical quality. Results A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria; half of the studies rated highly for methodical quality. RCI scores were summarized for a number of neuropsychological instruments. Conclusion RCIs have important implications regarding the interpretation of change in test scores in older adults. Further assessment and standardization is needed for many neuropsychological instruments.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A 90% confidence interval for reliable change was employed to identify significant cognitive change beyond measurement error and practice effects, consistent with prevailing RCI literature.
“To identify if a patient's cognitive score has significantly changed beyond measurement error and practice effects, a 90% confidence interval for reliable change was employed, consistent with prevailing RCI literature.”
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 43 · Cited by 65
- Authors
- Stein, J., Luppa, M., Brähler, E., König, H.-H., & Riedel-Heller, S. G.
- Affiliations
- Leipzig University (DE)
- Venue
- Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders
- Publisher
- S. Karger AG
- Published
- 2010
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 275-286
- ISSN
- 1420-8008 (ISSN-L)
- 1421-9824
- OpenAlex
- W2088576310
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 0.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Historical and Modern Theater Studies
- Keywords
- reliable change index, cognitive change, neuropsychological assessment, older adults, dementia diagnosis, longitudinal cognitive assessment, test score interpretation, methodological quality
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Clinical Trials as Topic, Cognition, Cognition Disorders, Humans, Neuropsychological Tests, Mental Recall, Research, Verbal Learning, Geriatric Assessment, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Disease Progression
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
