Age and educational influences on RBANS index scores in a nondemented geriatric sample

Research has indicated the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS; Randolph, 1998) to be sensitive to the effects of brain dysfunction and capable of accurately discriminating cortical from subcortical dementias (Randolph, Tierney, Mohr, & Chase, 1998). It recently has been demonstrated, however, that certain indices of the measure are susceptible to educational influences (Lineweaver, Zone, Chelune, Hermann, & Dow, 2001). The present investigation examined the effects of age and education on the six RBANS indices in a sample of nondemented older adults. Education accounted for a statistically significant proportion of the variance across all RBANS indices for this group (range = 1.9-7.6%), while age increased the variance accounted for on four of six indices (range = 0.5-2.2%). Regression-based educational corrections for index scores were derived to allow for appropriate adjustment. Effects of age, although statistically significant, were too small to make clinical adjustment on three of the four index scores worthwhile. On the Delayed Memory Index, however, correction for age for persons 80 years old and higher should be considered.