Interrater reliability of clinical ratings and neurocognitive diagnoses in HIV.
We examined the interrater (IRR) of clinical ratings of neuropsychological (NP) impairment and neurocognitive diagnoses in HIV. Thirty participants with advanced HIV-infection who were enrolled in a multicenter HIV brain banking research project underwent comprehensive NP and neuromedical evaluations. Using a standardized system of guidelines, neuropsychologists from six participating sites independently assigned clinical ratings of NP impairment, as well as multilevel diagnoses reflecting the inferred etiology of the impairments and their effects on everyday functioning. Findings indicated excellent IRR in rating the presence and severity of NP impairment, but overall modest IRR for neurocognitive diagnoses. Not surprisingly, most diagnostic disagreements concerned the etiology of impairments in persons with medical and neuropsychiatric risk factors in addition to HIV.
Woods
Steven Paul
SP
University of California, San Diego, CA 92103, USA. spwoods@ucsd.edu
Rippeth
Julie D
JD
Frol
Alan B
AB
Levy
Joel K
JK
Ryan
Elizabeth
E
Soukup
Vicki M
VM
Hinkin
Charles H
CH
Lazzaretto
Deborah
D
Cherner
Mariana
M
Marcotte
Thomas D
TD
Gelman
Benjamin B
BB
Morgello
Susan
S
Singer
Elyse J
EJ
Grant
Igor
I
Heaton
Robert K
RK
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index