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Background: Despite increasing knowledge of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) across the life span, there is still little research on adults' own experiences of being diagnosed with ADHD. The aim of the present study was to explore and describe patients' experiences and perceptions of being diagnosed with ADHD in adulthood. The study can be seen as an attempt to validate the diagnosis from a patient perspective. Methods: Twenty-one adults diagnosed with ADHD were individually interviewed. The interviews were open-ended and exploratory, analysed with a qualitative phenomenographical approach, and the results were described in categories. Results: Positive experiences were dominant, but there was a complex intra- and inter-individual variation of experiences. Descriptions focused on the diagnosis, on identity, and on life. The diagnosis was described as explaining a previously inexplicable life history, but was also questioned, both as a phenomenon and in relation to the individual (the diagnosis in focus). It was experienced as providing self-knowledge and increased value, but could also cause devaluation and concern about identity (identity in focus). It meant help to achieve a better life, but was also perceived to restrict possibilities and cause disappointment over lack of professional help. It could lead to a wish for an earlier diagnosis that could have spared suffering, as well as to a changed view of the participants' relatives (life in focus). All but one of the interviewees expressed important positive consequences of being diagnosed with ADHD. About half of them acknowledged negative aspects of being diagnosed, but none regretted going through the neuropsychiatric evaluation. Conclusions: From a patient perspective, there are major positive consequences of being diagnosed with ADHD, compared to the undiagnosed situation. Knowledge of the individual's combination of experiences is important for professionals, as these experiences can affect well-being and interfere with treatment. Negative experiences in particular might need to be addressed in the treatment work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer instruments to identify possible caseness and to provide proxies for clinical diagnoses are needed in epidemiological research on child and adolescent mental health. The aim of this study is to provide further validity data for a parent telephone interview focused on Autism - Tics, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), and other Comorbidities (A-TAC), for which reliability and preliminary validation data have been previously reported. Methods: Parents of 91 children clinically diagnosed at a specialized Child Neuropsychiatric Clinic, 366 control children and 319 children for whom clinical diagnoses had been previously assigned were interviewed by the ATAC over the phone. Interviewers were blind to clinical information. Different scores from the A-TAC were compared to the diagnostic outcome. Results: Areas under ROC curves for interview scores as predictors of clinical diagnoses were around 0.95 for most disorders, including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), tic disorders, developmental coordination disorders (DCD) and learning disorders, indicating excellent screening properties. Screening cut-off scores with sensitivities above 0.90 (0.95 for ASD and AD/HD) were established for most conditions, as well as cut-off scores to identify proxies to clinical diagnoses with specificities above 0.90 (0.95 for ASD and AD/HD). Conclusions: The previously reported validity of the A-TAC was supported by this larger replication study using broader scales from the A-TAC-items and a larger number of diagnostic categories. Short versions of algorithms worked as well as larger. Different cut-off levels for screening versus identifying proxies for clinical diagnoses are warranted. Data on the validity for mood problems and oppositional defiant/conduct problems are still lacking. Although the A-TAC is principally intended for epidemiological research and general investigations, the instrument may be useful as a tool to collect information in clinical practice as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Conduct disorder (CD), a serious behavioral and emotional disorder in childhood and adolescence, characterized by disruptive behavior and breaking societal rules. Studies have explored the overlap of CD with neurodevelopmental problems (NDP). The somatic health of children with NDP has been investigated; however, the prevalence of these problems in children with CD has not been sufficiently studied. Holistic assessment of children with CD is required for establishing effective treatment strategies. Aims: (1) Define the prevalence of selected neurological problems (migraine and epilepsy) and gastrointestinal problems (celiac disease, lactose intolerance, diarrhea, and constipation) in a population of twins aged 9 or 12; (2) Compare the prevalence of somatic problems in three subpopulations: (a) children without CD or NDP, (b) children with CD, and (c) children with both CD and NDP; (3) Select twin pairs where at least one child screened positive for CD but not NDP (proband) and map both children's neurological and gastrointestinal problems. Method: Telephone interviews with parents of 20,302 twins in a cross-sectional, nationwide, ongoing study. According to their scores on the Autism-Tics, AD/HD, and Comorbidities inventory, screen-positive children were selected and divided into two groups: (1) children with CD Only, (2) children with CD and at least one NDP. Results: Children with CD had an increased prevalence of each neurological and gastrointestinal problem (except celiac disease), and the prevalence of somatic problems was further increased among children with comorbid CD and NDP. The presence of CD (without NDP) increased the odds of constipation for girls and the odds of epilepsy for boys. Girls with CD generally had more coexisting gastrointestinal problems than boys with CD. Female co-twins of probands with CD were strongly affected by gastrointestinal problems. Concordance analyses suggested genetic background factors in neurological and gastrointestinal problems, but no common etiology with CD could be concluded. Conclusion: Co-occurring NDP could explain most of the increased prevalence of somatic problems in CD. Our results raise a new perspective on CD in children and adolescents; their CD seems to be linked to a number of other health problems, ranging from neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders to somatic complaints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reliable and easy to administer screening instruments focusing on neurodevelopmental disorders and associated conditions are scarce. The Autism-Tics, AD/HD and other Comorbidities inventory (A-TAC) has previously been validated and reporting good-excellent validity for several disorders. This article aims to expand these findings by including more conditions in a substantially larger sample augmented with the Swedish National Patient Register (NPR). Methods: Since 2004 parents of all 9-year-old Swedish twins have been invited to participate in a telephone interview in the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden, CATSS. The CATSS is linked to the NPR which includes data from in- and outpatient care. Data on neurodevelopmental disorders (A-TAC) collected in CATSS were compared with diagnoses from the NPR. We investigated diagnoses that had been made both before (previous validity) and after (predictive validity) the interview. Results: Sensitivity and specificity of A-TAC scores for predicting earlier or later clinical diagnoses were mostly good-excellent, with values of the area under the curve for a clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) of .98, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) .93, learning disorder (LD) .92, and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) .99, with small differences in terms of previous and predictive analyses. A-TAC provided little validity for eating disorders. Conclusion: The result support previous claims: A-TAC is a broad screening instrument with a particular strength in assessing ASD, ADHD, LD, and ODD at ages 9 and 12, and also provides phenotypic information about other child psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Identifying children with childhood-onset neurodevelopmental problems (NDPs, defined here as autism spectrum disorders [ASDs], attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD], tic disorders [TDs], learning disorders [LDs] and development coordination disorder), using easily administered screening instruments, is a prerequisite for epidemiological research. Such instruments are also clinically useful to prioritize children for comprehensive assessments, to screen risk groups, and to follow controls. Autism-Tics, ADHD, and other Co-morbidities inventory (A-TAC) was developed to meet these requirements; here the A-TAC's prospective and psychometric properties are examined, when used in a population-based, epidemiological setting. Methods: Since 2004, parents of all Swedish twins have been asked to take part in an ongoing, nation-wide twin study (The Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden). The study includes the A-TAC, carried out as a telephone interview with parents of twins aged 9 or 12. In the present study, screen-positive twins from three birth year cohorts (1993-1995) were invited to a comprehensive clinical follow-up (blinded for previous screening results) together with their co-twins and randomly selected, healthy controls at age 15 (Total N = 452). Results: Sensitivity and specificity of A-TAC scores for predicting later clinical diagnoses were good to excellent overall, with values of the area under the receiver operating characteristics curves ranging from 0.77 (AD/HD) to 0.91 (ASDs). Among children who were screen-positive for an ASD, 48% received a clinical diagnosis of ASDs. For AD/HD, the corresponding figure was also 48%, for LDs 16%, and for TDs 60%. Between 4% and 35% of screen-positive children did not receive any diagnosis at the clinical follow-up three years later. Among screen-negative controls, prevalence of ASDs, AD/HD, LDs, and TDs was 0%, 7%, 4%, and 2%, respectively. Conclusions: The A-TAC appeared to be a valid instrument to assess NDPs in this population-based, longitudinal study. It has good-to-excellent psychometric properties, with an excellent ability to distinguish NDPs (mainly ASDs) from non-NDPs at least three years after the screening evaluations, although specific diagnoses did not correspond closely to actual clinical diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]