Differentiating patients with higher cerebral dysfunction from patients with psychiatric or acute medical illness using the BNI screen for higher cerebral functions

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The BNI Screen for Higher Cerebral Functions (BNIS) was administered to 41 patients with known cerebral dysfunction, 22 psychiatric patients (some of whom were psychotic) without documented brain lesions, and 22 medical inpatients without neurological or psychiatric diagnoses. Patients with cerebral dysfunction scored significantly lower than the medical and psychiatric patients (p < 0.05). Utilizing the recommended cutoff score of 47, 40 of the 41 brain-dysfunctional patients were correctly classified as impaired, but only seven of the medical and five of the psychiatric patients were correctly classified. Using age-based T-scores, 36 of the 41 brain-dysfunctional patients (87.8%) were correctly classified. Specificity improved slightly, but these numbers were still low (55%), primarily because psychotic patients performed like neurological patients (100%). This study provides further empirical validation of this screening instrument in identifying patients with brain disorders.

Publication Date

5-30-1997

Publication Title

Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neurology

ISSN

0894878X

Volume

10

Issue

2

First Page

113

Last Page

119

PubMed ID

9150512

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