Identification of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder in Mexican children by the scale for evaluation of deficit of attention and hyperactivity.

The objective was weighing the usefulness of a Spanish-language Scale for the evaluation of deficit of attention and hyperactivity (EDAH) to identify children with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (AD-HD) and conduct disorder (CD) in a sample of school-aged children. We studied 132 children from a government-run public elementary school previously selected by teachers as having learning and attention disorders. We screened children of the sample with parents' and teachers' EDAH and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV edition Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) questionnaires, and performed an interdisciplinary clinical examination for the final diagnosis. We found 81 children with AD-HD and 51 children without AD-HD. AD-HD was classified as follows: AD-HD-combined (-C), n=32; AD-HD-inattentive (-I), n=17 and AD-HD-hyperactive (-H), n=32. Cronbach's alpha calculation for the EDAH parents' questionnaire was 0.76, and for teachers, 0.80. Sensitivity of the teachers' EDAH questionnaire was 0.94, and specificity, 0.91. Sensitivity of the parents' EDAH questionnaire was 0.91, while specificity was 0.87. The data of EDAH parents' and teachers' questionnaires have a concordance of 93.1% and 80%, respectively. The correlation of scores among parents' and teachers' EDAH scales was significant. The correlation between results from parents' and teachers' DSM-IV-TR and EDAH questionnaires was also significant. Our results partially support the use of EDAH questionnaires for AD-HD and CD screening in Spanish-speaking populations.