Evaluation of the validity of the autism spectrum quotient (AQ) in differentiating high-functioning autistic spectrum disorder from schizophrenia
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine the validity of the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) to differentiate high-functioning autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) from schizophrenia (SCH).The AQ was developed by Baron-Cohen et al. to measure autistic traits.In addition to the original AQ items, we created self-administered questions about psychotic symptoms (S-scale).We administered the modified AQ to 51 ASD patients and 46 SCH patients, and we compared these two groups in terms of total AQ score, AQ subscale scores and S-scale score.We applied receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves to examine the discriminating power of the AQ.The mean total AQ score of the ASD group (32.6;SD=6.8; range: 8-48) was significantly higher than that of the SCH group (21.8;SD=7.4; range: 10-39) (p<0.001).All AQ subscale scores of the ASD group were significantly higher than those of the SCH group.By using a cut-off score of 29 for the AQ total score, we were able to correctly classify 80% of the subjects.At this cut-off, the positive and negative predictive values were 0.83 and 0.78, respectively.Inclusion of additional questions of the S-scale did not increase the power of differentiation.These results indicate that the usefulness of the AQ in differentiating high-functioning ASD from SCH is limited.In clinical practice, differential diagnosis of high-functioning autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia (SCH) is difficult but important.It is especially difficult when adult patients with ASD have psychotic symptoms as a result of maladjustment to their circumstances.Diagnosis of ASD requires a knowledge of early developmental history, but sometimes that is difficult to clearly ascertain when the patient is an adult.If such patients were not diagnosed as having ASD during their childhood, we cannot distinguish their symptoms from the positive symptoms of SCH.Similarly, when ASD patients are in social withdrawal or in an autistic state, it is difficult to distinguish their state from the negative symptoms of SCH.Thus, a reliable measurement for differentiating the two disorders is needed.The modern concept of autism was first described in a thesis ("Infantile autism") by Kanner (7) and independently in a paper (" Autistic psychopathy in childhood") by Asperger (3).Kanner borrowed the term "autism" from Bleuler (1911), who originally coined the word to describe the loss of contact with reality in schizophrenia.Autism was previously considered as a form of childhood SCH, but findings in the 1960s and 1970s revealed that
Author: 憲一 内藤
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2234277840