Utility of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) in patients with end-stage liver disease awaiting liver transplant

Abstract

Patients with ESLD uniformly performed below expectations on all RBANS index scores compared to the healthy normative sample (all p's<.0001) and they also displayed a "subcortical" pattern of cognitive performance (p<.0001). Performances on RBANS attention, language, immediate memory, and total index scores were correlated with education and ethnicity (r's range=|.32-.57|; p's<.01). There was no association between performance on any of the RBANS index scores or subtests and ESLD patient characteristics. In summary, the RBANS appears to adequately characterize known patterns of cognitive dysfunction in ESLD patients.