Thorough clinical child psychiatric diagnostic evaluation and validation of the Autism- Tics, ADHD and other comorbidities inventory (A-TAC) in a population-based sample of 9-year-olds
Halldner, Linda ; Eberhard, Sophia LU ; Lichtenstein, Paul ; Gustafsson, Peik LU
; Gillberg, Christopher
; Johnson, Mats
; Billstedt, Eva
; Täljemark, Jakob
LU
; Råstam, Maria
LU
and Lundström, Sebastian
LU
(2025)
In BMC Psychiatry
25(1).
- Abstract
Background: The Autism- Tics, ADHD and other Comorbidities inventory (A-TAC) has been validated in epidemiological data. However, validation against clinical diagnostic assessments in a population-based sample has been lacking, limiting the implications for clinical practice, clinical research and public health decisions. Methods: Study participants were recruited from the longitudinal Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) inviting parents to all twins in Sweden. We investigated the psychometric properties of the A-TAC in 263 children, where one or both twins screened positive for neuropsychiatric problems, as well as control pairs, where both twins were screen negative. Study participants underwent thorough clinical... (More)
Background: The Autism- Tics, ADHD and other Comorbidities inventory (A-TAC) has been validated in epidemiological data. However, validation against clinical diagnostic assessments in a population-based sample has been lacking, limiting the implications for clinical practice, clinical research and public health decisions. Methods: Study participants were recruited from the longitudinal Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) inviting parents to all twins in Sweden. We investigated the psychometric properties of the A-TAC in 263 children, where one or both twins screened positive for neuropsychiatric problems, as well as control pairs, where both twins were screen negative. Study participants underwent thorough clinical examination within one year of the A-TAC interview. The psychometric properties of the A-TAC were then investigated. We also mapped the extent of comorbidity of neurodevelopmental disorders. Results: Using the A-TAC as screening for neurodevelopmental disorders we could discriminate two groups of children with clearly different occurrences of clinical diagnoses. The predictive screening properties of the A-TAC were good for most of the neurodevelopmental disorders (AUC ranging from 0.806 to 0.958), with exception for developmental coordination disorder (AUC = 0.616). More than 40% of children fulfilling diagnostic criteria for a neurodevelopmental disorder, also fulfilled diagnostic criteria for at least one other neurodevelopmental disorder. Conclusion: This study confirms the utility of the A-TAC interview as a screening tool for neuropsychiatric disorders in a non-clinical sample. It also supports the necessity to maintain a broad diagnostic approach in clinical child psychiatric investigations for meaningful understanding of the child’s problems. Although, A-TAC can be informative on neurodevelopmental problems in both clinical and population-based samples, it cannot replace a clinical neurodevelopmental investigation or be used to delimit individual access to specialized care.
(Less)
- author
- Halldner, Linda
; Eberhard, Sophia
LU
; Lichtenstein, Paul
; Gustafsson, Peik
LU
; Gillberg, Christopher
; Johnson, Mats
; Billstedt, Eva
; Täljemark, Jakob
LU
; Råstam, Maria
LU
and Lundström, Sebastian
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025-12
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Children, Clinical evaluation, Neurodevelopmental disorders, Psychiatric diagnoses, Screening validation
- in
- BMC Psychiatry
- volume
- 25
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 918
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105017605147
- pmid:41039434
- ISSN
- 1471-244X
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12888-025-07475-y
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- deaf3a1f-0688-4604-b35a-b5ff4d059c58
- date added to LUP
- 2025-11-21 14:08:56
- date last changed
- 2025-12-19 17:26:57
@article{deaf3a1f-0688-4604-b35a-b5ff4d059c58,
abstract = {{<p>Background: The Autism- Tics, ADHD and other Comorbidities inventory (A-TAC) has been validated in epidemiological data. However, validation against clinical diagnostic assessments in a population-based sample has been lacking, limiting the implications for clinical practice, clinical research and public health decisions. Methods: Study participants were recruited from the longitudinal Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden (CATSS) inviting parents to all twins in Sweden. We investigated the psychometric properties of the A-TAC in 263 children, where one or both twins screened positive for neuropsychiatric problems, as well as control pairs, where both twins were screen negative. Study participants underwent thorough clinical examination within one year of the A-TAC interview. The psychometric properties of the A-TAC were then investigated. We also mapped the extent of comorbidity of neurodevelopmental disorders. Results: Using the A-TAC as screening for neurodevelopmental disorders we could discriminate two groups of children with clearly different occurrences of clinical diagnoses. The predictive screening properties of the A-TAC were good for most of the neurodevelopmental disorders (AUC ranging from 0.806 to 0.958), with exception for developmental coordination disorder (AUC = 0.616). More than 40% of children fulfilling diagnostic criteria for a neurodevelopmental disorder, also fulfilled diagnostic criteria for at least one other neurodevelopmental disorder. Conclusion: This study confirms the utility of the A-TAC interview as a screening tool for neuropsychiatric disorders in a non-clinical sample. It also supports the necessity to maintain a broad diagnostic approach in clinical child psychiatric investigations for meaningful understanding of the child’s problems. Although, A-TAC can be informative on neurodevelopmental problems in both clinical and population-based samples, it cannot replace a clinical neurodevelopmental investigation or be used to delimit individual access to specialized care.</p>}},
author = {{Halldner, Linda and Eberhard, Sophia and Lichtenstein, Paul and Gustafsson, Peik and Gillberg, Christopher and Johnson, Mats and Billstedt, Eva and Täljemark, Jakob and Råstam, Maria and Lundström, Sebastian}},
issn = {{1471-244X}},
keywords = {{Children; Clinical evaluation; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Psychiatric diagnoses; Screening validation}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Psychiatry}},
title = {{Thorough clinical child psychiatric diagnostic evaluation and validation of the Autism- Tics, ADHD and other comorbidities inventory (A-TAC) in a population-based sample of 9-year-olds}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-025-07475-y}},
doi = {{10.1186/s12888-025-07475-y}},
volume = {{25}},
year = {{2025}},
}