title: Assessment of severity of autism using the Indian scale for assessment of autism.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Indian Scale for Assessment of Autism (ISAA) was developed to assess the severity of autism among Indian cases.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study evaluated the ISAA in relation to the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Developmental Disability- Children Global Assessment Scale (DD-CGAS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Indian children with ICD 10 diagnoses of Autistic disorder (AD, n = 50), Intellectual Disability (ID, n = 50), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, n = 26), other psychiatric disorders (PD-N=25) and control children without psychiatric disorders (n = 65) were evaluated using the ISAA, DD-CGAS and the CARS (total n = 216).
  
  
  METHODS
  In addition to descriptive statistics and correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess whether the ISAA scores were significantly different across diagnostic groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total ISAA scores were significantly higher among children diagnosed with autistic disorder compared to four other diagnostic groups. Total ISAA scores were significantly correlated with CARS scores and DD-CGAS scores. Groups sub-divided on the basis of recommended ISAA cutoff points of severity showed significant differences in CARS scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ISAA can thus be used to assess severity of AD among Indian children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Satabdi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Dr. Somervell Memorial CSI Medical College, Karakonam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: Pramod
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Triptish
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Vishwajit L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Nimgaonkar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Smita N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Deshpande
keywords: Autism; Indian scale for assessment of autism; childhood autism rating scale; cross-cultural; developmental disability-children global assessment scale