title: Preliminary findings on the reliability and validity of the Cantonese Birmingham Cognitive Screen in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There are no currently effective cognitive assessment tools for patients who have suffered stroke in the People's Republic of China. The Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) has been shown to be a promising tool for revealing patients' poststroke cognitive deficits in specific domains, which facilitates more individually designed rehabilitation in the long run. Hence we examined the reliability and validity of a Cantonese version BCoS in patients with acute ischemic stroke, in Guangzhou.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 98 patients with acute ischemic stroke were assessed with the Cantonese version of the BCoS, and an additional 133 healthy individuals were recruited as controls. Apart from the BCoS, the patients also completed a number of external cognitive tests, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA), Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Albert's cancellation test, the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test, and six gesture matching tasks. Cutoff scores for failing each subtest, ie, deficits, were computed based on the performance of the controls. The validity and reliability of the Cantonese BCoS were examined, as well as interrater and test-retest reliability. We also compared the proportions of cases being classified as deficits in controlled attention, memory, character writing, and praxis, between patients with and without spoken language impairment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyses showed high test-retest reliability and agreement across independent raters on the qualitative aspects of measurement. Significant correlations were observed between the subtests of the Cantonese BCoS and the other external cognitive tests, providing evidence for convergent validity of the Cantonese BCoS. The screen was also able to generate measures of cognitive functions that were relatively uncontaminated by the presence of aphasia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggests good reliability and validity of the Cantonese version of the BCoS. The Cantonese BCoS is a very promising tool for the detection of cognitive problems in Cantonese speakers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China ; School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Haobo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Wai-Ling
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Bickerton
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Johnny King Lam
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony Pak Hin
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rotshtein
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Aihua
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Guangzhou First People's Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jianxi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Glyn W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Humphreys
keywords: Cantonese speakers; cerebral infarction; cognitive impairment; neuropsychological testing; reliability test; validation test