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Multicenter Study
. 2013 May;43(5):1184-95.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-013-1817-8.

Sensitivity and specificity of proposed DSM-5 criteria for autism spectrum disorder in toddlers

Marianne L Barton  1 , Diana L Robins, Dasal Jashar, Laura Brennan, Deborah Fein
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Sensitivity and specificity of proposed DSM-5 criteria for autism spectrum disorder in toddlers

Marianne L Barton et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2013 May.

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis is based on behavioral presentation; changes in conceptual models or defining behaviors may significantly impact diagnosis and uptake of ASD-specific interventions. The literature examining impact of DSM-5 criteria is equivocal. Toddlers may be especially vulnerable to the stringent requirements of impairment in all three social-communication symptoms and two restricted/repetitive symptoms. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves identified optimal cutoffs for sums of ADOS and ADI-R criteria mapped to each criterion for 422 toddlers. The optimal modification of DSM-5 criteria (sensitivity = 0.93, specificity = 0.74) required meeting the ROC-determined cutoffs for 2/3 Domain A criteria and 1 point for 1/4 Domain B criteria. This modification will help insure that ASD is identified accurately in young children, facilitating ASD-specific early intervention.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: Diana L. Robins receives royalties from licensees developing electronic versions of the M-CHAT through M-CHAT, LLC. No royalties were received in relation to any of the data collected in this study.

References

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