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Diagnosing ASD in Adults Without ID: Accuracy of the ADOS-2 and the ADI-R

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Abstract

Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in adulthood often represents a challenge in clinical practice. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the ADOS and ADI-R in diagnosing ASD in adults. 113 subjects with an IQ of 70 or above were assessed through an extensive clinical evaluation. The ADOS-2 Module 4 and the ADI-R were separately administered by staff members blind to clinical judgment. Our results cautiously confirm the accuracy of ADOS-2 Module 4, while suggest that ADI-R might not be reliable in adults without intellectual disability. Clinicians’ training and experience remains of primary importance while assessing adults who could potentially belong to the autism spectrum.

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Acknowledgments

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors would like to thank all the patients of Laboratorio Autismo and their families.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, via Bassi 21, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Laura Fusar-Poli, Natascia Brondino, Matteo Rocchetti, Cristina Panisi, Umberto Provenzani, Stefano Damiani & Pierluigi Politi

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  1. Laura Fusar-Poli
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  2. Natascia Brondino
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  3. Matteo Rocchetti
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  4. Cristina Panisi
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  7. Pierluigi Politi
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Contributions

LF and NB conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the evaluations, analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript; MR and CP participated in the design and interpretation of the data, performed the evaluations, and helped to draft the manuscript; UP and SD participated in the interpretation of the data and helped to write the manuscript; PP conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the evaluations, and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Laura Fusar-Poli.

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Conflict of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.

Additional information

Laura Fusar-Poli and Natascia Brondino are joint first authors.

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Fusar-Poli, L., Brondino, N., Rocchetti, M. et al. Diagnosing ASD in Adults Without ID: Accuracy of the ADOS-2 and the ADI-R. J Autism Dev Disord 47, 3370–3379 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-017-3258-2

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