Cognitive profile for Chinese patients with stroke.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of the Chinese version of Cognistat for patients with stroke in a Chinese community.

METHODS

A total of 53 patients and 34 normal elderly with age, gender and literacy level matched were tested with the Chinese translated version of Cognistat.

RESULTS

The results suggest that the patients performed significantly lower than their normal counterparts on the test. The Orientation, Attention and Calculation sub-tests were the most significant contributors to its high sensitivity (0.79) and specificity (0.85), which is largely consistent with the original English version. A two-factor structure was confirmed with the 10 sub-tests clustered into the areas of fluid and crystallized abilities, which indicates that the translation of the test content did not alter the structure of the instrument. However, the low level of literacy of the local elderly population and language structure tends to slightly alter the cognitive profile of the patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Further studies are recommended to further explore the cross-cultural issues and clinical implications on establishing cognitive profile for patients with stroke with Cognistat.