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The current study explored the predictive validity of the Global Deficit Score (GDS) approach in summarizing neuropsychological (NP) test results, and specifically in detecting HIV-associated cognitive impairment. A comprehensive NP test battery was administered to 88 HIV⁺ subjects and 61 healthy HIV− controls comparable for age, education, and ethnicity. Demographically corrected test data were converted to a GDS, which simulates clinicians' ratings by quantifying the number and degree of impaired performances throughout the test battery while attaching relatively less significance to superior performances and/or those within normal limits. Our results indicated that the GDS approach effectively discriminated HIV⁺ and normal control groups, and accurately classified HIV⁺ individuals with NP impairment based on the "gold standard" clinical rating approach. Consistent with previous studies using different …