The normative data study of the Czech MATRICS consensus cognitive battery.

OBJECTIVE: The MATRICS consensus cognitive battery (MCCB) is a widely used neuropsychological battery for the assessment of cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. However, the accuracy of measurement is dependent on suitable normative data which are in the Czech Republic lacking. METHOD: The Czech academic research translation of the MCCB battery was administered to a sample of healthy volunteers aged 17 to 62 years (N = 573) and the effects of age, education and sex were examined. In addition, a comparison was made to examine the differences between the US and current normative data. RESULTS: Consistent with previous studies, significant effects of age, sex and education were found, however, in sex and education in distinct MCCB-domains. By comparing the original and current normative data, significant differences with small to large effect sizes were revealed in all domains except for Verbal Learning. CONCLUSIONS: We present nationally specific MCCB regression-based and tabular normative data applicable in research and clinical settings.

Profile of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and factor structure of the Czech MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery.

We aimed to validate the Czech version of the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). The MCCB is a test battery designed to assess cognitive treatment effects in clinical trials of patients with schizophrenia. The valid, reliable and replicable measurement of cognition in schizophrenia is of substantial importance for such clinical trial studies. We performed a psychometric analysis of the MCCB composite and domain scores based on ROC analysis of 67 schizophrenia patients and 67 age- and education-matched healthy controls from a total sample of 220 controls. Also, we correlated MCCB variables with scales measuring psychosocial functioning (Personal and Social Performance scale; PSP). The internal consistency of all 10 tests in the MCCB battery was good (Cronbach's α = 0.85 (95% CI [0.83, 0.88])). The discriminative validity for the detection of neurocognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia based on the area under the curve of MCCB composite T-score was ≥90% (95% CI [0.85, 0.96]) and all MCCB domains showed ps < .001. The MCCB global composite and the Speed of Processing domain score significantly predicted the PSP ratings. A confirmatory factor analysis on the whole control sample (N = 220) showed an optimal fit for a 6-factor in comparison to 1-factor solution. In conclusion, we found high discriminative validity for the Czech MCCB version, similar to the differentiation of schizophrenia versus healthy control groups in the original MCCB studies. We also established the factorial validity of the MCCB and showed that the overall composite of the MCCB predicts psychosocial functioning in the patient group.