A screening tool for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children in Saudi Arabia

A clinically validated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) scale in Arabic for evaluating children in Saudi Arabia who might be suspected of having ADHD is lacking. Thus, we studied the validity of an Arabic version of the ADHD Rating Scale in discriminating children with an ADHD diagnosis from normal children or from those with non-ADHD psychiatric diagnoses, including mental retardation.

The guardians of 119 children provided demographic data and completed the standardized Arabic version of the ADHD Rating Scale on their children, who were either normal, had a diagnosis of ADHD, or had a non-ADHD psychiatric diagnosis. The mean rating scores of the groups were compared, and the cutoff points were calculated for both sexes.

The scores discriminated children with ADHD diagnosis (mean and [SD], 28 [6.288]) from normal children (10.93 [8.009]), and those with a non-ADHD psychiatric diagnosis (16.63 [8.865]). ADHD cutoff points were obtained for male (23.5) and female (22.5) children. Psychosocial characteristics associated with children having ADHD were not associated with the diagnosis of ADHD.

The ADHD Rating Scale (Arabic version), in terms of either the grand total score or the total score of each of its two subscales, demonstrated concurrent and discriminant validity by discriminating children with ADHD from other clinical and non-clinical children groups. The study obtained cutoff points for both sexes based only on the grand total score of the scale because of the relatively small sample size. Replication of the study, utilizing a larger sample and eliciting ratings from both parents and teachers, is recommended.