Brief Report: An Evaluation of the AQ-10 as a Brief Screening Instrument for ASD in Adults

Abstract

There is a need for brief screening instruments for autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) that can be used by frontline healthcare professionals to aid in the decision as to whether an individual should be referred for a full diagnostic assessment. In this study we evaluated the ability of a short form of the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) questionnaire, the 10 item AQ-10, to correctly classify individuals as having or not having ASD. In a sample of 149 individuals with ASD and 134 controls without an ASD diagnosis, we found that the full AQ (AQ-50) abridged AQ (AQ-S) and AQ-10 all performed well as a screen for ASD. ROC analysis indicated that sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve were very similar at suggested cut-off's for ASD across measures, with little difference in performance between the AQ-10 and full AQ-50. Results indicate the potential usefulness of the AQ-10 as a brief screen for ASD.

Investigating diagnostic bias in autism spectrum conditions: An item response theory analysis of sex bias in the AQ‐10

“…Previous research has suggested that scoring above 6 is an indicator that an individual may have an ASC (Allison et al, ). Although, dichotomizing scores reduces the precision of the instrument; this scoring system is currently preferred for two reasons: first, it is simpler and more practical for the frontline professionals who use the tool in practice and second, validation studies to date have been based on this scoring system (Allison et al, ; Booth et al, ; Murray, Booth et al, 2015). As it is this scoring system that is used in clinical practice, we adopted it for the current study in order to reflect the screening process as it actually occurs, acknowledging the possibility that this screening process may not be optimal from the perspective of maximizing precision of trait‐level estimates.…”

“…The scale performed well, yielding an area under the curve of .95 and a sensitivity and specificity at the cut‐off point of 6 of 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. In an independent sample using a similar methodology, Booth et al () found that the AQ‐10 could discriminate between individuals with and without a clinical diagnosis of ASC cases and controls with sensitivity and specificity of 0.80 and 0.87 respectively at the suggested cut‐point of 6. In this study, all participants were administered the full 50‐item AQ but only the 10 items of the AQ‐10 were selected for analysis.…”

“…The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Guideline 142; NICE, ) recommends administering the AQ‐10 to individuals suspected of having an ASC and offering full diagnostic assessment to those who score above the cut‐off point of 6 (based on binary item scores). Studies evaluating the performance of the AQ‐10 against the criterion of clinical diagnosis have suggested that it performs well in identifying individuals with an ASC (Allison et al, ; Booth et al, ). However, an important outstanding issue in the use of the AQ‐10 and other screens for ASC is the possibility that their use contributes to a diagnostic bias; specifically, the under‐identification of females with ASC.…”

Development and Validation of the Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire – Autism Spectrum Conditions in Autistic, Possibly Autistic and Non-Autistic Adults.

“…A systematic review showed satisfactory evidence in support of the AQ-S factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and convergent validity as rated by a validated research tool (COSMIN) [32]. Using the dichotomous scoring method, scores at or above a clinical cut-off of 16 have showed acceptable sensitivity and speci city in distinguishing autistic from non-autistic adults [33]. Cronbach's alpha for whole scale: Autistic group a=.765, possibly autistic group a=.791, non-autistic group a=.854.…”

Psychosocial Twin Cohort Studies in Japan: The Keio Twin Research Center (KoTReC)

“…Many aspects of the database are incomplete. We have not yet established Experiences as twin X Note: ADHD-RS-IV = ADHD Rating Scale-IV (DuPaul et al, 1998); AQ10 = Autism Spectrum Quotient (Booth et al, 2013); RSES = Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965); K10 (Kessler et al, 2002); Mini-K (Figueredo et al, 2006).…”