Differentiating cognitive functions of poststroke patients with specific brain lesions : a preliminary study on the clinical utility of Cognistat-P

The Cognistat is widely used to measure the cognitive profile of neurological patients. This study aimed to further obtain evidence on the construct and discriminative validity of the Putonghua version of the Cognistat (Cognistat-P) on poststroke patients with specific brain lesions. Cognistat-P was administered to poststroke patients (n = 98), as well as healthy elderly (n = 40) and adult (n = 34) participants as the control groups. Poststroke patients were further categorized into 4 lesion groups using standard brain slice templates. Exploratory factory analysis reflected a 2-factor structure for the Cognistat-P that resembles that for the original English version. The Construction, Similarities, and Judgment subtests were found to differentiate patients with frontal or parietal lesions from those with subcortical lesions (p < .01, R2 = .48). The Construction subtest, tapping the “fluid” ability, was the most useful for differentiating patients with parietal lesions from those with subcortical lesions. The Similarities subtest together with the Construction subtest was the most useful for differentiating patients with frontal lesions from those with subcortical lesions. This study established the validity of the Cognistat-P for differentiating poststroke patients with specific brain lesions. Future studies should replicate the results on a larger sample size and test the clinical significance of the Cognistat-P profiles.