OBJECTIVE The coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic has increased personal protective equipment (PPE) use in medical settings. The current study examined the effect of PPE on a nonverbal measure of neurocognitive functioning. METHODS The Leiter International Performance Scale, Third Edition (Leiter-3) was administered to 125 children between the ages of three and eight. Fifty-nine children were assessed twice without any PPE and 66 were assessed once without and once with PPE. Group differences on composite scores were evaluated using a repeated measures design, accounting for sex, school attendance, socioeconomic status, and HIV status. RESULTS Nonverbal IQ scores increased significantly between test administrations for both groups, but no significant interaction between PPE group and scores on Leiter-3 composites was found. CONCLUSIONS No main effect of PPE on Leiter-3 outcomes was found. These results suggest clinical and research work using a nonverbal neurocognitive assessment can be completed when PPE is required.

中文翻译：

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2019 年冠状病毒病大流行期间的非语言神经认知评估：个人防护装备的作用。


目标 2019 年冠状病毒病大流行增加了医疗环境中个人防护装备 (PPE) 的使用。目前的研究探讨了个人防护装备对神经认知功能非语言测量的影响。方法 Leiter 国际表现量表第三版 (Leiter-3) 对 125 名 3 至 8 岁的儿童进行了测试。 59 名儿童在没有任何个人防护装备的情况下接受了两次评估，66 名儿童在没有任何个人防护装备的情况下接受了一次评估，一次有个人防护装备进行了评估。使用重复测量设计评估综合分数的组间差异，考虑性别、入学率、社会经济状况和艾滋病毒状况。结果 两组测试期间非语言智商得分均显着增加，但未发现 PPE 组与 Leiter-3 综合得分之间存在显着交互作用。结论 没有发现 PPE 对 Leiter-3 结果有主要影响。这些结果表明，当需要个人防护装备时，可以完成使用非语言神经认知评估的临床和研究工作。