Meral Yavuz, Bıkmazer Alperen, Örengül Abdurrahman Cahid, Çakıroğlu Süleyman, Altınbilek Esra, Bakır Fulya, Bıkmazer Bilgihan, Saleh Ayman, Görmez Vahdet
Istanbul Medeniyet University, School of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Istanbul, Türkiye.
Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Istanbul, Türkiye.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Mar 4. doi: 10.1007/s10803-025-06761-8.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder, and early diagnosis plays a pivotal role in prognosis and management. This study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Autism Mental Status Exam (AMSE), a tool that shows great promise in terms of clinical utility, within the Turkish population. This study conducted in a cohort of 307 Turkish children aged 17 to 120 months with suspected ASD. Participants underwent a multidisciplinary assessment based on DSM-5 criteria for diagnosis and were categorized into ASD and non-ASD groups. Subsequently, the research team conducted blinded administrations of the AMSE and Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Additionally, a subset of 61 children underwent retesting for AMSE and CARS after three weeks for temporal stability. The results revealed an optimal cut-off score of 4 for AMSE, yielding sensitivity and specificity rates of 84% and 97%, respectively. Internal consistency, indicated by a Cronbach's alpha of 0.80, was very good. The test-retest reliability, assessed using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC), was excellent (ICC = 0.959). The inter-rater reliability also showed excellent agreement (ICC = 0.997). Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed between the AMSE and CARS scores (r = 0.94, p < 0.001). Notably, the AMSE scores were significantly different between the ASD and non-ASD groups (p < 0.001) with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 1.40). The findings of this study underscore the utility of AMSE as a valid and reliable tool for Turkish children with robust psychometric properties.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种常见的神经发育障碍，早期诊断对预后和管理起着关键作用。本研究旨在检验自闭症精神状态检查表（AMSE）在土耳其人群中的心理测量特性，该工具在临床实用性方面显示出巨大潜力。本研究纳入了307名年龄在17至120个月之间疑似患有ASD的土耳其儿童队列。参与者根据《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》第五版（DSM - 5）标准接受多学科评估以进行诊断，并被分为ASD组和非ASD组。随后，研究团队对AMSE和儿童自闭症评定量表（CARS）进行了盲法施测。此外，61名儿童的子集在三周后接受了AMSE和CARS的重新测试以评估时间稳定性。结果显示，AMSE的最佳截断分数为4，敏感性和特异性分别为84%和97%。由克朗巴哈系数α为0.80表示的内部一致性非常好。使用组内相关系数（ICC）评估的重测信度极佳（ICC = 0.959）。评分者间信度也显示出极佳的一致性（ICC = 0.997）。此外，观察到AMSE和CARS分数之间存在显著相关性（r = 0.94，p < 0.001）。值得注意的是，ASD组和非ASD组之间的AMSE分数存在显著差异（p < 0.001），效应量较大（科恩d值 = 1.40）。本研究结果强调了AMSE作为一种对土耳其儿童有效的、可靠的且具有稳健心理测量特性的工具的实用性。
