Diagnostic labelling of autism spectrum disorders in NSW

Abstract

Aim: To describe the use of diagnostic labels by clinicians for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and calculate the label-specific and overall agreement between diagnostic labels and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) diagnoses provided by the same clinician. Methods: State-wide active surveillance was used to ascertain children newly recognised with one or more DSM-IV criteria for autistic disorder aged 0-15 years (incident cases) in New South Wales (NSW) between July 1999 and December 2000. Clinicians were asked to supply a diagnostic label and then complete DSM-IV criteria for each child reported. Results: Questionnaires with diagno..