[Utility of the Wender-Utah rating scale and the checklists for the diagnosis of familial attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults. Convergent and concurrent validities].
BACKGROUND
Standard questionnaires to characterize familial attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) of adults have been studied in some studies.


OBJECTIVE
To observe convergent and concurrent validity of four standard rating scales to quantify the familial ADHD symptoms of adults.


METHODS
The sample was constituted by the 392 adults; aged 18 through 84 years, belonging to 141 Antioquian families with multiple ADHD affected members, who fulfilled by self-report the Wender-Utah Rating Scale and the ADHD checklist; and, beside, answered a questionnaire asking for current and past ADHD symptoms, in a neurological interview. Correlation analyses were done. Sensitivity and specificity for ADHD diagnosis were also determined.


RESULTS
Significant and over 0.6 correlations were observed between scales that explored past ADHD symptoms. Distant cut-off points for 90% sensitivity and specificity were observed for all questionnaires. The best LR+ (12.15) was found for the report of 5 or more past hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms; follow by the report of 7 or more past ADHD symptoms (6.92).


CONCLUSIONS
Cut-off points should be taken with caution when these rating scales were used for adult ADHD screening. Psychometric properties do not allow using these scales as substitution of structured clinical interview for the gold standard ADHD diagnosis in adults.
Pineda
David A
DA
Universidad de Antioquia. Facultad de Medicina. Grupo de Neurociencias, Medellin, Colombia. dpineda12@hotmail.com
Trujillo-Orrego
Natalia
N
Aguirre-Acevedo
Daniel C
DC
Arango
Clara P
CP
Hincapié-Henao
Liliana
L
Montoya-Arenas
David A
DA
Lopera
Francisco
F
Pineda-Alvarez
Daniel E
DE
Arcos-Burgos
Mauricio
M
Muenke
Maxiliam
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult