Autism Mental Status Examination: A Preliminary Report of An Italian Version

Background:  The Autism Mental Status Examination (AMSE) is a new tool introduced to evaluate individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). It is a brief diagnostic classification tool aimed to describe social, communicative and behavioral functioning in patients with ASD. The AMSE  is made of eight items, each of which are scored on a 0 (no symptom) to 2 (moderate/severe symptom) scale.  Thus total score ranges from 0 to 16. The AMSE encompasses symptoms within social, communication and behavioral domains as specified in the DSM-IV-TR for Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders.

Objectives:  to describe the application of AMSE to an Italian population of children and adolescents. To verify its concordance and reliability  as to ADOS and clinical evaluation  for ASD diagnosis

Methods: 24 subjects, 4 F and 20 M, age 1.9-18.3 ys range, mean 7.1 ys SD +/-3.5, at risk for ASD have been evaluated in a clinical setting that included AMSE. Nineteen subjects received also the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) evaluation.

Results:  Eighteen subjects had ASD at clinical evaluation, 15 M and 3 F; 6 had Autistic Disorder (3 F and 3M) and 12 males presented a Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (ASD) according to DSM-IV. Six patients did not present an ASD Patients without ASD had the following disorders: 5 males with Language Disorders, 1 girl with Attention Deficit with Hyperacivity Disorder –Predominantly Inattentive.At AMSE evaluation 15 patients showed ASD, 6 AD and 9 with ASD. 3 patients with ASD did not reach the cut-off score. The concordance rate of ASD diagnosis between AMSE/ADOS was 84% considering children with ASD (n=18/24).

Conclusions:  This is preliminary report of an ongoing study aimed at replicating and validating the findings obtained with the first study using AMSE. The main positive finding is regarding  classification accuracy of ASD and concordance between  AMSE with  ADOS and overall clinical evaluation. AMSE holds promise as a standardized and rapid autism-focused mental status examination however small sample size and method limitations prompt for further research.

 Reference Grodberg D, Weinger PM, Kolevzon A, Soorya L, Buxbaum JD. Brief Report: The Autism Mental Status Examination: Development of a Brief Autism-Focused Exam.  J Autism Dev Disord. 2011 Apr 26. [Epub ahead of print]