ABSTRACT

Introduction: Previous studies of neuropsychological performance in electrical injury (EI) patients have produced evidence of deficits in various cognitive domains, but studies have yet to investigate relationships among performance in cognitive domains post-EI. This study examined whether dispersion among neuropsychological test scores was associated with injury parameters and neuropsychological performance in EI patients. Additionally, we examined whether dispersion, processing speed and/or executive abilities explain variance in episodic verbal and visual memory performance among EI patients.

Method: Data from 52 post-acute EI patients undergoing outpatient evaluation with objectively-verified valid neuropsychological test performance were examined. Tests included measures of verbal and visual memory, processing speed, and executive functioning. Dispersion was calculated from executive functioning and processing speed scores.

Results: Dispersion was not related to mean performance or injury characteristics, but was significantly negatively correlated with performance on a test of processing speed, suggesting that increased dispersion is associated with reduced cognitive efficiency post-EI. Delayed visual memory was related to both dispersion scores and processing speed. Stepwise regression equations predicting delayed memory determined that processing speed most significantly predicted delayed visual memory, even after controlling for immediate visual memory. No significant relationships emerged between verbal memory and non-memory neuropsychological scores.

Conclusions: This is the first study to examine neuropsychological dispersion and relationships among domains of cognitive functioning in EI. Current results suggested that neuropsychological dispersion is not a marker of general functioning or severity of injury in EI patients, but may represent more specific processing speed abilities. Processing speed predicts delayed visual memory performance in EI patients, which should be considered in interpreting test scores during evaluations.

摘要

简介：之前对电损伤 (EI) 患者神经心理表现的研究已经证明了各种认知领域存在缺陷，但研究尚未调查 EI 后认知领域表现之间的关系。这项研究检查了神经心理学测试分数之间的差异是否与 EI 患者的损伤参数和神经心理学表现有关。此外，我们检查了分散性、处理速度和/或执行能力是否可以解释 EI 患者情景性言语和视觉记忆表现的差异。

方法：对 52 名接受门诊评估的急性 EI 患者的数据进行了检查，这些患者的数据经过客观验证，具有有效的神经心理学测试性能。测试包括对语言和视觉记忆、处理速度和执行功能的测量。分散是根据执行功能和处理速度得分计算的。

结果：分散与平均表现或受伤特征无关，但与处理速度测试的表现显着负相关，表明分散增加与 EI 后认知效率降低有关。延迟视觉记忆与分散分数和处理速度有关。预测延迟记忆的逐步回归方程确定处理速度最显着地预测延迟视觉记忆，即使在控制即时视觉记忆之后也是如此。言语记忆和非记忆神经心理学评分之间没有显着关系。

结论：这是第一项研究 EI 中认知功能域之间的神经心理分散和关系的研究。目前的结果表明，神经心理分散不是 EI 患者一般功能或损伤严重程度的标志，但可能代表更具体的处理速度能力。处理速度可预测 EI 患者的延迟视觉记忆性能，在评估期间解释测试分数时应考虑这一点。