Study: Two Conners’ Tests Provide Accurate ADHD Assessment Results
Select visual and auditory attention tests may distinguish between patients with and without ADHD, according to researchers from Taiwan who found that the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test 3rd Edition (CPT3) and the Conners’ Continuous Auditory Test of Attention (CATA) produced objective and reliable evidence about cases of ADHD.
December 16, 2019
The Conners’ Continuous Performance Test 3rd Edition (CPT3) and the Conners’ Continuous Auditory Test of Attention (CATA) provide reliable information about subjects’ symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD or ADD) that can contribute to a more accurate clinical assessment, according to a new study published in the Journal of Attention Disorders.1
Researchers from the Department of Child Psychiatry at Chang Gung Children’s Hospital in Taiwan administered the following neuropsychological tests to 165 study participants — including 107 children with ADHD and 58 without: CPT3, CATA, K-SADS-E, WISC-IV–Chinese Version, and the SNAP-IV.
They found that the CPT3 and CATA — administered individually and together — highlighted noticeable differences between controls and patients with ADHD, suggesting that the latter exhibit comparatively worse visual and auditory attention and that this demonstrable difference may be useful for clinical assessment. When administered together, these tests outperformed the other neuropsychological tests in terms of:
- sensitivity (82.6%)
- specificity (76%)
- positive predictive value (88.8%)
- negative predictive value (65.5%)
Sources
1 Wang, L.-J., Lee, S.-Y., Tsai, C.-S., Lee, M.-J., Chou, M.-C., Kuo, H.-C., & Chou, W.-J. (2019). Validity of Visual and Auditory Attention Tests for Detecting ADHD. Journal of Attention Disorders. https://doi.org/10.1177/1087054719887433
