An examination of the validity of neuropsychological and physical testing batteries in Latin-American adults aged over 55 years

Abstract

Background: Valid and reliable measurements are necessary to understand and monitor age-related changes.

Aims: To describe the factor structure and provide validity evidence of a neuropsychological and a physical testing batteries using factor analysis.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of data from the Epidemiology and Development of Alzheimer's Disease (EDAD) project. Community-dwelling adults aged 55 to 85 years underwent comprehensive physical and neuropsychological assessments. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on both assessment batteries. The models were later confirmed with a random subsample using confirmatory factor analysis.

Results: Data from 238 adults (163 females and 75 males) was included. The neuropsychological model revealed a four-factor structure formed by "Executive Functioning", "Verbal Memory", "Logical Memory", and "Labeling And Reading" (Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings [ESSL] = 56.41% explained variance; Standardized Root Mean Square Residual [SRMSR] = 0.06; Comparative Fit Index [CFI] = 0.98). The physical model was formed by a two-factor structure including "Health-related Fitness and "Functional Fitness" (ESSL = 50.54% explained variance; SRMSR = 0.07; CFI = 0.93).

Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyze the structure of comprehensive testing batteries for the Latin-American older adults. Our analysis contributes to the understanding of theoretical constructs that are evaluated in the EDAD project.

Conclusion: Our findings provide validity evidence for simplified and reduced testing batteries, which imply shorter testing times and fewer resources.

Keywords: Aging; Assessments; Cognition; Physical fitness; Validity.