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The French Version of the Revised Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale: A Psychometric Validation and Diagnostic Accuracy Study

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Abstract

The early recognition of ASD in adults is challenging, in particular due to the lack of appropriate and robust diagnostic tools. We performed a psychometric validation and diagnostic accuracy study of the French version of the RAADS-R on a sample of 305 adults: 105 with ASD without ID, 99 with psychiatric disorders, and 103 non-psychiatric control groups. The French version of the RAADS-R demonstrates good reliability and diagnostic validity, suggesting that it can help clinicians during the diagnostic process in adults with ASD without ID. However, the finding that a two-factor structure better fits the results requires further validation. This study point out the need of further study of RAADS in psychiatric disorders group due to the relatively high false positive rate (55.6%) of ASD.

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Abbreviations

ASD:

Autism spectrum disorders

RAADS-R:

Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised

ID:

Intellectual disability

PPV:

Positive predictive value

NPV:

Negative predictive value

AQ:

Autism spectrum quotient

DSM-IV-TR:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision

ICD-10:

International Classification of Diseases-10th revision

IQ:

Intellectual quotient

DSM-5:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth edition

ADOS-2:

Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, second edition

ADI-R:

Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised

ICC:

Intra-class coefficient

IIC:

Item internal consistency

IDV:

Item discriminant validity

AGFI:

Adjusted goodness of fit

RMSEA:

Root mean square error of approximation

SRMR:

Standardized root mean square residual

CFI:

Comparative fit index

ROC:

Receiver operating characteristics

AUC:

Area under the curve

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all participants for participating in the study. In addition, we thank the psychiatrists and health care providers for distributing the RAADS during medical visits and all members of the research team who participated in data collection. We would also like to give a special thanks to Pr. René Pry, Julie Loubersac, Frederick Russet, Raphael Jovenin, and Colette Boy.

Funding

This study was supported by Grant from Orange Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research and Epidemiology Unit, University Hospital (CHU) of Montpellier, Univ Montpellier, 34000, Montpellier, France

    Marie-Christine Picot & Héléna Bertet

  2. Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, Inserm, CESP, “DevPsy”, 94807, Villejuif, France

    Marie-Christine Picot & Amaria Baghdadli

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Autism Resources Center, University Research and Hospital Center (CHU) of Montpellier, 34000, Montpellier, France

    Cécile Michelon, Eric Pernon & Amaria Baghdadli

  4. Institut du Handicap Psychique (IHP), Centre Hospitalier de Niort, 70600, Niort, France

    Dominique Fiard

  5. INSERM U1114, Hôpitaux de Strasbourg, Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

    Romain Coutelle

  6. Department of Adult Psychiatry, CHRU Nimes, Nimes, France

    Mocrane Abbar

  7. INSERM U1088, Neuropsychiatry: Epidemiological and Clinical Research, Montpellier, University Department of Adult Psychiatry, CHU Montpellier, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Jérome Attal

  8. Hôpital Charles Perrens Bordeaux, Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, 33076, Bordeaux, France

    Anouck Amestoy

  9. Service de Psychiatrie de L’Enfant et de L’Adolescent, CRA Pays de la Loire, CHU d’Angers, 49933, Angers, France

    Philippe Duverger

  10. Yale University School of Medicine, Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Ariella Riva Ritvo

  11. Child Psychiatry Department, The Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Edward R. Ritvo

  12. School of Medicine, Univ. Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Amaria Baghdadli

  13. Centre Ressources Autisme, CHU Montpellier, 39 Avenue Charles Flahault, 34295, Montpellier, France

    Amaria Baghdadli

Authors
  1. Marie-Christine Picot
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  2. Cécile Michelon
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  3. Héléna Bertet
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  4. Eric Pernon
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  5. Dominique Fiard
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  6. Romain Coutelle
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  7. Mocrane Abbar
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  8. Jérome Attal
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  10. Philippe Duverger
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  11. Ariella Riva Ritvo
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  12. Edward R. Ritvo
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  13. Amaria Baghdadli
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Contributions

AB, CM, and EP conceived and designed the study. EP, DF, RC, MA, JA, AA, and PD contributed to data acquisition. AB, MCP, HB, and CM analysed and interpreted the data. AB and CM drafted the manuscript. AB, CM, EP, MCP, HB, RAR, and ER reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amaria Baghdadli.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All aspects of the study were approved by the local ethics committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Sud Mediterranée IV; number: 110802; number ID-RCB: 2011-A00882-39) and the French Health Authorities (AFFAPS; 2010-A01135-34). All research data was collected and stored according to the Informatics Data Protection Law (CNIL). The clinicaltrial.org number was NCT02826148.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Picot, MC., Michelon, C., Bertet, H. et al. The French Version of the Revised Ritvo Autism and Asperger Diagnostic Scale: A Psychometric Validation and Diagnostic Accuracy Study. J Autism Dev Disord 51, 30–44 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04518-z

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