title: Neuropsychological performance in mainland china: the effect of urban/rural residence and self-reported daily academic skill use.
abstract: Age, education, and gender are the most common covariates used to define normative standards against which neuropsychological (NP) performance is interpreted, but influences of other demographic factors have begun to be appreciated. In developing nations, urban versus rural residence may differentially affect numerous factors that could influence cognitive test performances, including quality of both formal and informal educational experiences and employment opportunities. Such disparities may necessitate corrections for urban/rural (U/R) status in NP norms. Prior investigations of the U/R effect on NP performance typically have been confounded by differences in educational attainment. We addressed in this by comparing the NP performance of large, Chinese urban (Yunnan Province, n = 201) and rural (Anhui Province, n = 141) cohorts of healthy adults, while controlling for other demographic differences. Although the groups did not differ in global NP scores, a more complex pattern was observed within specific NP ability domains and tests. Urban participants showed better performance in select measures of processing speed and executive functions, verbal fluency, and verbal learning. Self-reported daily use of academic skills was predictive of many U/R differences. Controlling for academic skill use abrogated most U/R differences but revealed rural advantages in select measures of visual reasoning and motor dexterity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California, USA. s8gupta@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Saurabh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Florin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vaida
authors.forename: Katie
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riggs
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: Lucette
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cysique
authors.forename: Chuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Zunyou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Robert K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Heaton
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D002681:China; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012016:Reference Values; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057566:Self Report; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data