title: Brief report: Lack of correlation between age of symptom onset and contemporaneous presentation.
abstract: The parents/guardians of 50 individuals were surveyed using a semistructured interview to determine the feasibility of this method and to establish ages of symptom onset. Thirty-eight informants were able to recall sufficient detail to allow categorization of the age of symptom onset. Chi-square analysis confirmed a significant association between investigators' categorization and informants' categorization. Contemporaneous presentation was indexed using Childhood Autism Rating Scale, the Autism Behavior Checklist, the Conners Hyperactivity Index, and the Ritvo-Freeman Real Life Rating Scale for Autism. No significant correlations were determined between any of these indices of symptom severity and age of symptom onset.
authors.affiliation: Glenwood Incorporated, and The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294-0017, USA. ltolbert@psych.uabmc.edu
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tolbert
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fowler
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parsons
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015982:Bias; D017028:Caregivers; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index