Longitudinal measurement invariance of neuropsychological tests in a diverse sample from the ELSA-Brasil study

• Autor(a) principal: Bertola,Laiss
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Benseñor,Isabela M., Gross,Alden L., Caramelli,Paulo, Barreto,Sandhi Maria, Moreno,Arlinda B., Griep,Rosane H., Viana,Maria Carmen, Lotufo,Paulo A., Suemoto,Claudia K.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry (São Paulo. 1999. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-44462021000300254
• topic: Parallel tests; longitudinal change; cognition; low and middle income countries; memory; executive function

Objective: Longitudinal measurement invariance analyses are an important way to assess a test’s ability to estimate the underlying construct over time, ensuring that cognitive scores across visits represent a similar underlying construct, and that changes in test performance are attributable to individual change in cognitive abilities. We aimed to evaluate longitudinal measurement invariance in a large, social and culturally diverse sample over time. Methods: A total of 5,949 participants from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) were included, whose cognition was reassessed after four years. Longitudinal measurement invariance analysis was performed by comparing a nested series of multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis models (for memory and executive function factors). Results: Configural, metric, scalar and strict invariance were tested and supported over time. Conclusion: Cognitive temporal changes in this sample are more likely to be due to normal and/or pathological aging. Testing longitudinal measurement invariance is essential for diverse samples at high risk of dementia, such as in low- and middle-income countries.