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INCLEN diagnostic tool for autism spectrum disorder (INDT-ASD): Development and validation

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Abstract

Objective

To develop and validate INCLEN Diagnostic Tool for Autism Spectrum Disorder (INDT-ASD).

Design

Diagnostic test evaluation by cross sectional design

Setting

Four tertiary pediatric neurology centers in Delhi and Thiruvanthapuram, India.

Methods

Children aged 2–9 years were enrolled in the study. INDT-ASD and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) were administered in a randomly decided sequence by trained psychologist, followed by an expert evaluation by DSM-IV TR diagnostic criteria (gold standard).

Main outcome measures

Psychometric parameters of diagnostic accuracy, validity (construct, criterion and convergent) and internal consistency.

Results

154 children (110 boys, mean age 64.2 mo) were enrolled. The overall diagnostic accuracy (AUC=0.97, 95% CI 0.93, 0.99; P<0.001) and validity (sensitivity 98%, specificity 95%, positive predictive value 91%, negative predictive value 99%) of INDT-ASD for Autism spectrum disorder were high, taking expert diagnosis using DSM-IV-TR as gold standard. The concordance rate between the INDT-ASD and expert diagnosis for’ ASD group’ was 82.52% [Cohen’s κ=0.89; 95% CI (0.82, 0.97); P=0.001]. The internal consistency of INDT-ASD was 0.96. The convergent validity with CARS (r = 0.73, P= 0.001) and divergent validity with Binet-Kamat Test of intelligence (r = −0.37; P=0.004) were significantly high. INDT-ASD has a 4-factor structure explaining 85.3% of the variance.

Conclusion

INDT-ASD has high diagnostic accuracy, adequate content validity, good internal consistency high criterion validity and high to moderate convergent validity and 4-factor construct validity for diagnosis of Autistm spectrum disorder.

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Correspondence to Narendra K. Arora.

Additional information

INCLEN STUDY GROUP: Core Group: Alok Thakkar, Arun Singh, Gautam Bir Singh, Manju Mehta, Manoja K Das, Nandita Babu, Preveen Suman, Ramesh Konanaki, Rohit Saxena, Satinder Aneja, Savita Sapre, Sharmila Mukherjee, Sunanda K. Reddy, Tanuj Dada. Extended Group: A.K Niswade, Archisman Mohapatra, Arti Maria, Atul Prasad, B.C Das, Bhadresh Vyas, G.V.S Murthy, Gaurie M. Devi, Harikumaran Nair, J.C Gupta, K.K Handa, Leena Sumaraj, Madhuri Kulkarni, Muneer Masoodi, Poonam Natrajan, Rashmi Kumar, Rashna Dass, Rema Devi, Sandeep Bavdekar, Santosh Mohanty, Saradha Suresh, Shobha Sharma, Sujatha S. Thyagu, Sunil Karande, T.D Sharma, Vinod Aggarwal, Zia Chaudhary.

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Juneja, M., Mishra, D., Russell, P.S.S. et al. INCLEN diagnostic tool for autism spectrum disorder (INDT-ASD): Development and validation. Indian Pediatr 51, 359–365 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-014-0417-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13312-014-0417-9

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