Effectiveness of using the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers in two-stage screening of autism spectrum disorder at the 18-month health check-up in Japan

Yoko Kamio; Naoko Inada; Tomonori Koyama; Eiko Inokuchi; Kenji Tsuchiya; Miho Kuroda

doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1864-1

Effectiveness of using the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers in two-stage screening of autism spectrum disorder at the 18-month health check-up in Japan

J Autism Dev Disord. 2014 Jan;44(1):194-203. doi: 10.1007/s10803-013-1864-1.

Authors

Yoko Kamio¹, Naoko Inada, Tomonori Koyama, Eiko Inokuchi, Kenji Tsuchiya, Miho Kuroda

Affiliation

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187-8553, Japan, kamio@ncnp.go.jp.

PMID: 23740200
DOI: 10.1007/s10803-013-1864-1

Abstract

To determine whether the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in conjunction with the routine 18-month health check-up identifies Japanese toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Two-stage screening using the M-CHAT was conducted with 1,851 children attending the check-up. Final ASD diagnosis was confirmed at age ≥3 years. Screening identified 20/51 children with ASD: 12/20 true positives were developmentally delayed, whereas 16/22 false negatives were high-functioning. Sensitivity was 0.476, specificity 0.986, positive predictive value 0.455, and likelihood ratio 33.4 for children with ASD. With a few modifications, M-CHAT screening successfully detected toddlers with ASD with and without developmental delay and is a promising screening tool to complement existing community surveillance.

Publication types

Evaluation Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Checklist*
Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / diagnosis*
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Infant
Japan
Male
Mass Screening / methods*
Sensitivity and Specificity