title: Pervasive developmental disorder in the children of immigrant parents: comparison of different assessment instruments.
abstract: The objective of this study was to describe how the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) behaves in relation to the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and to clinical diagnosis based on the criteria defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4 th Edition (DSM-IV) for children of immigrant parents. Forty-nine children of parents who had immigrated to Canada were evaluated. In this sample, the ADOS and the DSM-IV showed complete agreement. Using the standard cut-off point of 30, the CARS showed high specificity and poor sensitivity. The study proposes a cut-off point for the CARS that would include pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). Reducing the cut-off point to 20/21 increased the specificity of the instrument for this group of children without significantly reducing its sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Autism Research, Brazil, SalvadorBA.
authors.forename: Milena Pereira
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Pondé
authors.affiliation: Division of Social and Cultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Canada, Montreal.
authors.forename: Cécile
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.affiliation: Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Interdisciplinary Laboratory in Autism Research, Brazil, SalvadorBA.
authors.forename: Marco Antônio Costa
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Carlos
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002170:Canada; D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*