ADHD Diagnosis Collateral Retrospectives

Breda,V;, Rovaris, DL; Schneider Vitola, E.; et al.  Does collateral retrospective information about childhood attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms assist in the diagnosis of attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder in adults? Findings from a large clinical sample.  Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 1–9, DOI: 10.1177/0004867415609421.


Collateral information is commonly used in making the diagnosis of ADHD in a child or adolescent. The role of collateral retrospectives in making the diagnosis in adults presenting for evaluation for ADHD has been less well investigated. 


ADHD Diagnosis Collateral Retrospectives

This is an investigation of the relative importance of childhood collateral information in making a diagnosis of ADHD in an adult presenting for evaluation.  449 adults with ADHD and 143 controls were evaluated for the diagnosis of ADHD and co-morbidities with a modification of the K-SADS, ADHD symptoms with the SNAP-IV, and current/childhood impairment with the Barkley Current and Childhood Symptom scales.  Collateral childhood ADHD symptoms/impairments were also evaluated with the Barkley Childhood Symptom Scale, completed by a first or second degree relative. 


Click: Managing   ADHD MedicationsA diagnosis of ADHD via patient or collateral report required full childhood symptom onset prior to the age of 12.  A subset of adults with ADHD were also treated with methylphenidate immediate release (0.13-1.23 mg/kg/day); treatment response was measured via changes in SNAP-IV from baseline to endpoint. 


The data analyses were performed on three cohorts: 1) adults with ADHD where there was agreement as to childhood symptoms from the subject and informant (n=277), 2) adults with ADHD where there was disagreement between subjects and informants (n=172) and 3) controls.  ADHD patients (all) vs. controls did not significantly differ in terms of age, gender, years of education or income, but did have significantly more school failure problems with discipline and problems with the law.   The levels of impairment for the ADHD cohort were quite similar (collateral agreement + vs. -), except that the group with collateral and patient childhood agreement had higher levels of school suspensions and problems with discipline.  It is not that surprising that the collaterals and subjects had better agreement in these areas as school suspensions and discipline problems are more likely to be remembered by both subjects and collaterals. 


The ADHD cohorts (collateral agreement + vs. -) had similar levels of co-morbidity and treatment response to methylphenidate.  The combined ADHD cohorts had higher rates of tobacco use, bipolar disorder, current ODD, conduct disorder and non-alcohol SUD than controls.  A salient finding of this investigation is that 40% of subjects with adult ADHD had collateral informants who were unable to extensively corroborate their symptoms. 


Limitations of this study include the self-report nature of the SNAP-IV and the fact that this scale has not been validated for adults.  Also, of note, the subjects with adult ADHD had full childhood onset of the disorder retrospectively, which is a more stringent criteria than was utilized in DSM-IV.  It is not clear how utilizing more strict childhood criteria will influence the generalizability of these findings to clinically evaluated subjects using DSM-IV or DSM-5 guidelines. Download DSM-V Guidelines  for ADHD Diagnosis


Clinicians remain the final and optimal arbiter in establishing a diagnosis of adult ADHD; it remains up to clinicians to integrate information from all sources in establishing this diagnosis, be it from the subject, current significant others, collateral informants about childhood or clinician observations during the interview.