title: Childhood inattention and hyperactivity symptoms self-reported by adults with Asperger syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Increasing public awareness of the adult manifestations of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders, like Asperger syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has provoked an increasing number of persons to seek assessment for the first time in adulthood. As these disorders have their origin in childhood, instruments for retrospective evaluation of childhood behavior are needed.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this preliminary study, 20 adults with Asperger syndrome filled in the Wender-Utah Rating Scale for ADHD to describe retrospectively their childhood behavior.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fourteen out of 20 adults with Asperger syndrome self-rated above the cut-off limit for ADHD. The median total score was also higher than that reported in normal populations in previous studies. When compared with 10 controls, patients with Asperger syndrome scored higher in almost all individual items.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A high score on the Wender-Utah rating Scale for ADHD in this patient group might be a sign of true comorbidity with ADHD, an indication of overlapping features typical of both disorders, or a result of other psychiatric comorbidity originating already in childhood. Moreover, there are no data about the proper cut-off limit for ADHD in these subjects. Therefore, one should be cautious when applying this scale beyond its original context of comparison between adults with ADHD, unipolar depression and healthy controls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. pekka.tani@pp.inet.fi
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tani
authors.forename: Nina
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lindberg
authors.forename: Bjorn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Appelberg
authors.forename: Taina
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nieminen-von Wendt
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: von Wendt
authors.forename: Tarja
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Porkka-Heiskanen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D020817:Asperger Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic