A Simple Test of Central Processing Speed: An Extension of the Short Blessed Test

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and reliability of a simple measure of central processing speed: the time to recite the months of the year in reverse order, from the Short Blessed Test of Orientation, Concentration, and Memory (SBT). DESIGN: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal designs were used to establish validity and test‐retest reliability. SETTING: Participants' homes and by telephone interview. PARTICIPANTS: An age‐stratified sample of 120 community‐dwelling women, aged 67–94, randomly selected from Medicare recipients of the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area. MEASUREMENTS: Dependent variables were the SBT, the Trail Making Test, computer‐generated simple and choice reaction time, and time to say the months of the year backward (TMYB). The independent variable was age. RESULTS: Significant Pearson product‐moment correlations were obtained for Trail Making and TMYB with a simple and choice reaction time after controlling for age and cognitive status. An exponential relationship was observed between age and TMYB, expressed both cross‐sectionally and as rate of change. Test‐retest reliability for TMYB was 0.90. CONCLUSIONS: TMYB is a valid and reliable measure of central processing speed that compares favorably to the more elaborate and time‐consuming Trail Making B test. Because of its simplicity and ease of administration, this test provides the clinician with a practical measure of central processing speed. TMYB extends the utility of the widely used Short Blessed Test by measuring this additional and important domain of brain function. J Am Geriatr Soc 47:1359–1363,1999.