title: Retrospective assessment of childhood ADHD symptoms for diagnosis in adults: validity of a short 8-item version of the Wender-Utah Rating Scale.
abstract: The Wender-Utah Rating Scale (WURS) is a widely used self-report instrument for retrospective assessment of childhood ADHD. However, many WURS items are not specific to ADHD. Here, we investigated the effect of excluding these items on the performance of the WURS in predicting adult ADHD based on previous diagnosis and current clinically significant symptoms. The study was conducted on a sample of adults (n = 1014; 48 % male) participating in a family-based investigation of ADHD. Participants completed the 61-item WURS questionnaire and the 66-item Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the performance of the eight-item WURS (WURS-8) and the longer WURS-25 in predicting previous ADHD diagnosis and current clinically significant ADHD symptoms. WURS-8 and WURS-25 have approximately the same power to predict adult ADHD, based on either previous diagnosis or current symptoms (area under the ROC curves >0.8). WURS-8 performs at least as well as the longer WURS-25 in predicting adult ADHD. This 8-item questionnaire is thus a valid instrument and is especially useful for screening for ADHD in large epidemiological samples.
authors: John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Building 131, Garran Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia. debjani.das@anu.edu.au.
authors: Debjani
authors: D
authors: Das
authors: John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Building 131, Garran Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.|Neuroscience Research Group, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia.|Department of Industrial Engineering, Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia.
authors: Jorge I
authors: JI
authors: Vélez
authors: The Jennifer and Daniel Gilbert Neurofibromatosis Institute, Washington, DC, USA.|Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine at Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.|Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
authors: Maria T
authors: MT
authors: Acosta
authors: Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
authors: Maximilian
authors: M
authors: Muenke
authors: John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Building 131, Garran Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.|Neuroscience Research Group, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia.|Medical Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
authors: Mauricio
authors: M
authors: Arcos-Burgos
authors: John Curtin School of Medical Research, The Australian National University, Building 131, Garran Road, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
authors: Simon
authors: S
authors: Easteal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics; D012372:ROC Curve; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adult ADHD; CAARS; ROC; Sensitivity; Specificity; WURS