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Published on: June 12, 2020
Outpatient screening of Japanese children with epilepsy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD)
Takuya Tanabe1, Mitsuru Kashiwagi2, Shuichi Shimakawa3
1Department of Pediatric Neurology, Tanabe-Kadobayashi Children's Clinic, Japan.
Insights
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) effectively screens for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in Japanese children with epilepsy. It identifies both hyperactive and inattentive subtypes, aiding in early detection.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Child Psychiatry
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Epilepsy in children can present with comorbid behavioral challenges, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).
- Accurate screening tools are crucial for identifying AD/HD in pediatric epilepsy populations to facilitate timely intervention.
- The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a widely used behavioral screening tool.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the efficacy of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as a screening tool for AD/HD in Japanese children with epilepsy.
- To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the SDQ in detecting AD/HD in this specific pediatric population.
- To explore the SDQ's ability to identify behavioral problems beyond core AD/HD symptoms in epileptic children.
Main Methods:
- A study involving 68 Japanese children with epilepsy.
- Parents completed both the SDQ and the AD/HD-Rating Scale (AD/HD-RS) concurrently.
- Statistical analysis was performed to assess correlations and diagnostic accuracy.
Main Results:
- The SDQ hyperactivity subscale showed the highest scores.
- The AD/HD-RS indicated elevated scores for inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity.
- Twenty-two (32.4%) children were diagnosed with AD/HD.
- The SDQ hyperactivity subscale demonstrated 86.4% sensitivity and 95% specificity for AD/HD detection.
- All SDQ subscales significantly correlated with AD/HD-RS scores for inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity.
Conclusions:
- The SDQ is a valuable screening instrument for identifying AD/HD in children with epilepsy.
- The SDQ effectively detects both hyperactive/impulsive and inattentive subtypes of AD/HD.
- The SDQ can reveal complex behavioral issues in epileptic children that may be overlooked in routine clinical settings.
Unlabelled:
The significance of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) score for AD/HD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) screening was assessed in Japanese epileptic children.
Subjects And Methods:
Sixty-eight epileptic children were enrolled in this study. Parents were asked to fill out both the SDQ and AD/HD-rating scale (AD/HD-RS) simultaneously.
Results:
The SDQ subscale of hyperactivity showed the highest score. The AD/HD-RS showed higher scores for both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity. Twenty-two (32.4%) of these subjects were diagnosed as having AD/HD. The SDQ subscale for hyperactivity showed 86.4% sensitivity and 95% specificity, respectively, for detection of AD/HD. All SDQ subscales correlated significantly with inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity scores of the AD/HD-RS.
Conclusions:
The SDQ is a good screening tool which can contribute to the detection of AD/HD, not only of the hyperactive/impulsive but also the inattentive subtype. Furthermore, the SDQ can elucidate more complicated behavioral problems than the core symptoms of AD/HD that are not noticed in the epilepsy clinic.
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