Performance and symptom validity indicators among children undergoing cognitive surveillance following treatment for craniopharyngioma

Brian S Potter; Valerie McLaughlin Crabtree; Jason M Ashford; Yimei Li; Jia Liang; Yian Guo; Merrill S Wise; Evelyn S Skoda; Thomas E Merchant; Heather M Conklin

doi:10.1093/nop/npae005

Performance and symptom validity indicators among children undergoing cognitive surveillance following treatment for craniopharyngioma

Neurooncol Pract. 2024 Jan 29;11(3):319-327. doi: 10.1093/nop/npae005. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Biobehavioral Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
² Department of Biostatistics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
³ Mid-South Pulmonary and Sleep Specialists, PC, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
⁴ Department of Radiation Oncology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

PMID: 38737617
PMCID: PMC11085848 (available on 2025-01-29)
DOI: 10.1093/nop/npae005

Abstract

Background: Performance validity tests (PVTs) and symptom validity tests (SVTs) are essential to neuropsychological evaluations, helping ensure findings reflect true abilities or concerns. It is unclear how PVTs and SVTs perform in children who received radiotherapy for brain tumors. Accordingly, we investigated the rate of noncredible performance on validity indicators as well as associations with fatigue and lower intellectual functioning.

Methods: Embedded PVTs and SVTs were investigated in 98 patients with pediatric craniopharyngioma undergoing proton radiotherapy (PRT). The contribution of fatigue, sleepiness, and lower intellectual functioning to embedded PVT performance was examined. Further, we investigated PVTs and SVTs in relation to cognitive performance at pre-PRT baseline and change over time.

Results: SVTs on parent measures were not an area of concern. PVTs identified 0-31% of the cohort as demonstrating possible noncredible performance at baseline, with stable findings 1 year following PRT. Reliable digit span (RDS) noted the highest PVT failure rate; RDS has been criticized for false positives in pediatric populations, especially children with neurological impairment. Objective sleepiness was strongly associated with PVT failure, stressing need to consider arousal level when interpreting cognitive performance in children with craniopharyngioma. Lower intellectual functioning also needs to be considered when interpreting task engagement indices as it was strongly associated with PVT failure.

Conclusions: Embedded PVTs should be used with caution in pediatric craniopharyngioma patients who have received PRT. Future research should investigate different cut-off scores and validity indicator combinations to best differentiate noncredible performance due to task engagement versus variable arousal and/or lower intellectual functioning.

Keywords: brain tumor; craniopharyngioma; pediatric; performance validity test; symptom validity test.

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