Abstracts

Objective: Tounderstand the usefulness of the Neuropsychological Screening Battery for Hispanics (NeSBHis) with spanish-speaking epilepsy patients.
Rationale: The Neuropsychological Screening Battery for Hispanics (NeSBHis) is one of the few neuropsychological batteries that provides normative data stratified by age and education in a Hispanic-American population. Ensuing factor analyses of the same battery have shown that it can effectively distinguish a series of distinct neuropsychological functions (executive, language, visuo-spatial skills, and visual and verbal memory). Existing neuropsychological assessments with non-Spanish-speakers have demonstratedspecific cognitive deficits in epileptic patients, particularly in verbal/visual, memory and language functions. We assessed a Spanish-speaking epilepsy sample with this battery to determine commensurate findings.
METHODS: All patients were administered the NeSBHis while undergoing continuous Video-EEG monitoring on the NYU Comprehensive Epilepsy Center Adult Unit. This battery consists of the following measures: Controlled Oral Word Association Test (F-A-S), Ponton-Satz version of the Boston Naming Test, Rey-Osterreith Complex Figure, World Health Organization (WHO)- University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Color Trails Test-Parts A and B, Escala de Inteligencia Wechsler para Adultos (EIWA) Digit Span, Digit Symbol, and Block Design subtests, Raven[ssquote]s Standard Progressive Matrices.
Based on the adequate Hispanic-American neuropsychological norms that this battery provided, the decision to implement this series of tests as part of the pre-surgical work-up for our Spanish-speaking epilepsy patients wasmade.
RESULTS: A total of 22 Spanish-speaking patients were administered this battery. Their mean age was 38 years (SD=11.11). Their mean education was 11 years (SD=3.52). Their mean age of seizure onset was 17 (SD=12.45). The sample consisted of 7 women (31.8%) and 15 men (68.2%). Their general cognitive functioning was estimated through a measure of non-verbal reasoning. Their mean cognitive functioning fell within the Low Average/Borderline range.
The greatest frequencies of cognitive deficits (two or more standard deviations below the mean) were noted in confrontation naming, verbal memory on a list learning task, visual memory, and also on a task that required color-numerical shifting under timed conditions.
CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary results indicate that the NeSBHis is a valid tool for the neuropsychological assessment of Spanish-speaking epilepsy patients. As such, it can prove useful for characterization purposes and for pre and post surgical assesments. Future research directions with this instrument should determine whether it has further discriminatory potential in terms of more specific localization depending on seizure focus.