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Correspondence between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
J Biederman1, S V Faraone, W Weber
1Joint Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114, USA.
Objective:
To evaluate the correspondence between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV definitions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in clinically referred children. Results of the field trials led to the hypothesis that there would be a strong correspondence between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV subtypes.
Method:
The sample consisted of all children and adolescents consecutively referred to a pediatric psychopharmacology clinic (N = 405). Children were comprehensively evaluated with structured diagnostic interviews assessing both DSM-III-R and DSM-IV ADHD. DSM-III-R symptoms were used to approximate DSM-IV subtypes. Kappa statistics and conditional probabilities were used to examine the correspondence between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV ADHD.
Results:
Ninety-three percent of children who received a DSM-III-R diagnosis of ADHD also received a DSM-IV ADHD diagnosis. The kappa coefficient assessing the agreement between DSM-III-R and DSM-IV ADHD was .73 (z = 14.6, p < .0001). The kappa coefficient assessing the agreement between the DSM-III-R-approximated subtypes and the actual DSM-IV subtypes was .71 (z = 15, p < .0001).
Conclusion:
These results confirm previous findings and indicate that the change from DSM-III-R to DSM-IV results in minimal changes in case identification and provides support for diagnostic continuity between the two classification systems.