title: Clinical utility of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition after traumatic brain injury.
abstract: The performance of 100 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) was compared with that of 100 demographically matched neurologically healthy controls. Processing Speed was the only WAIS-IV factor index that was able to discriminate between persons with moderate-severe TBI on the one hand and persons with either less severe TBI or neurologically healthy controls on the other hand. The Processing Speed index also had acceptable sensitivity and specificity when differentiating between patients with TBI who either did or did not have scores in the clinically significant range on the Trail Making Test. It is concluded that WAIS-IV Processing Speed has acceptable clinical utility in the evaluation of patients with moderate-severe TBI but that it should be supplemented with other measures to assure sufficient accuracy in the diagnostic process.
authors.affiliation: Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI, USA jacobus.donders@maryfreebed.com.
authors.forename: Jacobus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Donders
authors.affiliation: Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Grand Rapids, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Carrie-Ann H
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Strong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D015600:Glasgow Coma Scale; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014888:Wechsler Scales / Q000592:standards; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: assessment; processing speed; sensitivity; specificity