Childhood Inattention and Hyperactivity Symptoms Self-Reported by Adults with Asperger Syndrome

Vol. 39, No. 1, 2006

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Original Paper

Childhood Inattention and Hyperactivity Symptoms Self-Reported by Adults with Asperger Syndrome
Pekka Tani^{a, b}, Nina Lindberg^{a, b}, Björn Appelberg^a, Taina Nieminen-von Wendt^c, Lennart von Wendt^c, Tarja Porkka-Heiskanen^b

^aDepartment of Psychiatry,
^bInstitute of Biomedicine, Department of Physiology, University of Helsinki, and
^cHospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

Address of Corresponding Author

Psychopathology 2006;39:49-54 (DOI: 10.1159/000089910)

Key Words

Asperger syndrome
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Utah Rating Scale for ADHD

Abstract

Background: Increasing public awareness of the adult manifestations of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders, like Asperger syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), has provoked an increasing number of persons to seek assessment for the first time in adulthood. As these disorders have their origin in childhood, instruments for retrospective evaluation of childhood behavior are needed. Sampling and Methods: In this preliminary study, 20 adults with Asperger syndrome filled in the Wender-Utah Rating Scale for ADHD to describe retrospectively their childhood behavior. Results: Fourteen out of 20 adults with Asperger syndrome self-rated above the cut-off limit for ADHD. The median total score was also higher than that reported in normal populations in previous studies. When compared with 10 controls, patients with Asperger syndrome scored higher in almost all individual items. Conclusions: A high score on the Wender-Utah rating Scale for ADHD in this patient group might be a sign of true comorbidity with ADHD, an indication of overlapping features typical of both disorders, or a result of other psychiatric comorbidity originating already in childhood. Moreover, there are no data about the proper cut-off limit for ADHD in these subjects. Therefore, one should be cautious when applying this scale beyond its original context of comparison between adults with ADHD, unipolar depression and healthy controls.

Author Contacts

Pekka Tani
Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Physiology
Biomedicum Helsinki, PO Box 63
FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland)
Tel. +358 50 5665123, Fax +358 9 19125317, E-Mail pekka.tani@pp.inet.fi

Article Information

Received: September 28, 2004
Accepted after revision: April 19, 2005
Published online: November 18, 2005
Number of Print Pages : 6
Number of Figures : 0, Number of Tables : 2, Number of References : 23

Medline Abstract (ID 16299413)

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