Accuracy of Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT) in Detecting Autism and Other Developmental Disorders in Community Clinics

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 28 - 35
• Main Authors: Toh, Teck-Hock, Tan, Vivian Wee-Yen, Lau, Peter Sie-Teck, Kiyu, Andrew
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2018; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accuracy; Age groups; Autism; Autistic children; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Check Lists; Checklists; Child and School Psychology; Children; Clinics; Cohort Analysis; Community Health Services; Developmental Disabilities; Developmental disorders; Diagnosis; Disability Identification; Disorders; Medical Care Evaluation; Medical screening; Mental health screening; Methods; Neurodevelopmental disorders; Neurosciences; Original Paper; Pediatrics; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Predictive Validity; Preschool children; Psychology; Public Health; Tests; Toddlers; Malaysia; Developmental disorders; Accuracy; Autism spectrum disorder; Early detection; Community; Developmental screening
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-017-3287-x

This study determined the accuracy of Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers ( M-CHAT ) in detecting toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disorders (DD) in community mother and child health clinics. We analysed 19,297 eligible toddlers (15–36 months) who had M-CHAT performed in 2006–2011. Overall sensitivities for detecting ASD and all DD were poor but better in the 21 to <27 months and 27–36-month age cohorts (54.5–64.3%). Although positive predictive value (PPV) was poor for ASD, especially the younger cohort, positive M-CHAT helped in detecting all DD (PPV = 81.6%). This suggested M-CHAT for screening ASD was accurate for older cohorts (>21 months) and a useful screening tool for all DD.