The Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Exam (NCSE) with Geriatric Inpatients

The Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE; Northern California Neurobehavioral Group, Inc., 1988) has been proposed as a brief yet sensitive instrument to screen for cognitive impairment such as that occurring in dementia. In the current study we investigated the nature of the NCSE with a large sample of geropsychiatric inpatients (N = 503). The results of the current research suggest that the NCSE is a useful screening instrument sensitive to the differentiation of psychiatric illness versus organic cognitive impairment among geriatric inpatients. The Comprehension, Constructions, and Memory subtests each uniquely contributed to the statistical differentiation of depression from dementia. Scores on the subtests of the NCSE were generally inversely related to age and positively related to years of formal education, but these correlations were rather small in magnitude. Subtest intercorrelations were generally moderate in size and consistent among the scales suggesting that the subtests are relatively independent measures of different facets of cognitive functioning. Although further research is needed with different samples, the NCSE shows promise as a screening instrument for cognitive impairment among elderly adults.