AUTHOR=Muñoz-Najar Andrés , Montemurro Manuel , Tejada María del Carmen , Rivera-Fernández Claudia , Sánchez-Fernández Miguel , Custodio Nilton , Possin Katherine L. , Tsoy Elena , Lanata Serggio , Soto-Añari Marcio TITLE=Peruvian validation and standardization of the TabCAT-brain health assessment JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2025 YEAR=2025 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1600131 DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2025.1600131 ISSN=2296-2565 ABSTRACT=IntroductionDetecting cognitive impairment in low-educated and marginalized populations may result in under- or over-estimation of diagnoses due to reliance on non-validated approaches and normative data. This study validates and standardizes TabCAT-BHA for older adults living in the Andean region of Peru using regression-based normalization.MethodsTwo hundred fifty-eight participants were assessed with the MMSE, RUDAS, and TabCAT-BHA. Classified as either cognitively healthy or impaired based on Clinical Dementia Rating criteria.ResultsBy incorporating sex, place of residence, age, and years of education as covariates, the TabCAT-BHA demonstrated greater accuracy in detecting cognitive impairment (AUC = 75.3%) compared to the MMSE (AUC = 66.4%) and RUDAS (AUC = 71.4%). After incorporating only significant sociodemographic predictors, TabCAT-BHA obtained better AUC (77.4%) compared to MMSE (66.6%) and RUDAS (71.9%).DiscussionThe TabCAT-BHA proves to be a valid tool for detecting cognitive impairment, and incorporating sociodemographic factors improves its accuracy in marginalized settings of Peru.