Feasibility of electronic screening of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among the adult population: The case study in Tabriz 2018

Abstract

Numerous findings have shown that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that remains until adulthood. Estimating the prevalence rate of the disorder in adulthood is one of the most important health system needs. Reasonable psychometric features in online surveys do not guarantee a similar outcome in the face-to-face interview. Due to the high cost of visiting the door of the home for adults ADHD screening and identifying, the present study was aimed to evaluate the feasibility of electronic screening for Adult ADHD in the community.

Materials & Methods: This population-based descriptive survey was conducted online and through the electronic method. The study population of the study included all consumers of Asadabadi Hospital affiliated to Tabriz Medical University in the second half of 2018. The CANAS-S: SV Adults Conners Questionnaire was used for online screening. Clinical diagnostic interview based on DSM-4 (SCID –IV) and Utah as standard criteria was used for comparing outcomes of online screening method among all participants.Descriptive statistical methods (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) were used to determine the prevalence of ADHD. Non-parametric statistics of Fisher's test and chi-square test were also used to investigate the relationship between the research variables. In this study, the p value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: A total of 135610 and 2687 outpatients referred to the hospital and Psychiatry Clinic during the six months of the study, respectively. Out of 2687 outpatient of Psychiatry Clinic, 799 participated in the online screening. Of those, 462 had study inclusion criteria. The volume of online participation of Adult ADHD in the consumers of Asadabadi Hospital in Tabriz was 462 people (0.34%). The majority of participants were women (63.4%) and 19-29 years (40.9%). The prevalence rate of adult ADHD based on the D-index cut-off point of the Conners questionnaire (electronic) was 35.71% while the diagnostic interview based on DSM-5 (standard criteria) among all individuals through online screened, was reported 23.63%. Moreover, among all participants, the prevalence rate of adult ADHD based on the diagnostic interview was 8.44%. According to the results of clinical psychiatric interviews, the occurrence of a family history of ADHD in ADHD patients was higher than in non-ADHD individuals (P<0.01).