Screening for Neurocognitive Deficits in Pediatrics-the Clinical Utility of the Pediatric Perceived Cognitive Functioning item bank

OBJECTIVE: Efficient screening for neurocognitive dysfunction is pivotal for timely intervention in at-risk populations in pediatrics. The Pediatric Perceived Cognitive Functioning (PedsPCF) item bank was developed for this purpose. We aimed to explore the relationship between, and the discriminative value of PedsPCF scores with neurocognitive outcomes and the behavior rating inventory of executive function parent report (BRIEF) in a pediatric population.

METHODS: The PedsPCF parent- and self-report versions were added to neurocognitive testing batteries that were administered in clinical care or research in two Dutch academic pediatric hospitals. Most test batteries were individually tailored, resulting in a wide variety of measures. We determined Pearson correlations between the PedsPCF and neurocognitive test outcomes categorized into five neurocognitive domains as proposed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5, and the BRIEF-parent. Moreover, we assessed the discriminative values of PedsPCF deficit scores (M - 1 SD) for neurocognitive domain deficits (M - 1 SD) and the BRIEF-parent.

RESULTS: The PedsPCF was completed by 104 children and 106 parents. The parent-PedsPCF correlated with three neurocognitive domains and the BRIEF-parent but did not indicate deficits in any of the neurocognitive domains. The self-report PedsPCF correlated with a deficit in complex attention and the BRIEF-parent, and could indicate a deficit in complex attention only.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the PedsPCF correlated with neurocognitive test outcomes, the discriminative value of the total score was limited. The short and freely available PedsPCF appears to add a useful subjective dimension to neurocognitive testing rather than a replacement of neurocognitive assessment.