Utility of an abbreviated questionnaire to identify individuals with ADHD at risk for functional impairments.
OBJECTIVE
To discern whether a subset of items from the 99-item Current Behavior Scale (CBS) of behaviorally defined Executive Function Deficits (EFDs) in adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) can identify a group at risk for poor outcome.


METHODS
Subjects were 200 adults with ADHD participating in a family study of ADHD in adults. Factor analysis was used to reduce the number of items in the 99-item CBS.


RESULTS
The one factor solution provided eight items with factor loadings above 0.70. This abbreviated set of items was highly correlated with the 99-item CBS (0.91) and was similarly related to functional outcomes compared to the 99-item CBS (average correlation of 0.30 versus 0.32).


CONCLUSIONS
For adults with ADHD, a set of eight empirically-derived from the CBS similarly correlated with negative outcomes compared to the 99-item CBS, raising the possibility of utilization as a mechanism for identification of EFDs in adults with ADHD.
Biederman
Joseph
J
Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. jbiederman@partners.org
Petty
Carter R
CR
Fried
Ronna
R
Doyle
Alysa E
AE
Mick
Eric
E
Aleardi
Megan
M
Monuteaux
Michael C
MC
Seidman
Larry J
LJ
Spencer
Thomas
T
Faneuil
Alicia R
AR
Holmes
Lauren
L
Faraone
Stephen V
SV
D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires