[Retrospective recording of childhood ADHD symptoms : Follow-up of adults formerly diagnosed with childhood ADHD and/or childhood conduct disorder].

BACKGROUND: The Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) is recommended for retrospective recording of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Hence the present study explored the validity of the WURS and its short forms (WURS-25, WURS-k, WURS-15-G, IDA items) by screening adult subjects who had been diagnosed with either ADHD or conduct disorder (CD) during childhood.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: From 317 contacted former patients of the department for child and adolescent psychiatry, 20 adults previously diagnosed with ADHD (20 male, mean age 27.3 years) and 20 adults previously diagnosed with CD (and concurrent exclusion of childhood ADHD, 15 male, mean age 33.5 years) took part in the follow-up examination. Besides the WURS the socioeconomic status, current ADHD symptoms and further anamnestic details were obtained. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS Statistics.

RESULTS: The five IDA items showed a greater capacity for retrospective recording of childhood ADHD symptoms than the WURS or its short forms. Only the IDA items significantly (p = 0.001) separated subjects with a diagnosis of childhood ADHD from subjects with a diagnosis of childhood CD; however, the specificity was only 40% (cut-off = 10, concurrent sensitivity = 90%).

CONCLUSION: The validity of the WURS and its short forms is limited, especially if CD was present during childhood. As recommended in the guidelines, standardized instruments for retrospective recording of childhood ADHD symptoms should be supplemented with a history reported by third parties (e. g. parents) or with insight into school reports.