Validation of the Chinese Version of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised in Autism Spectrum Disorder

BACKGROUND: The Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) is an essential semi-structured diagnostic tool for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study aims to validate the Chinese version of the ADI-R in Taiwan. METHODS: The Chinese version of the ADI-R was translated and back-translated by professional translators and was approved by the original authors. A group of child psychiatrists and psychologists corrected medical terminology for the final version. Then, a total of 74 participants with ASD (male, 59, 79.73%) and 33 control participants without ASD (male, 16, 48.48%) were recruited. All participants were between 3 years 4 months to 41 years old (mean: 14.63 ± 7.93 years). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to measure the factor structure. RESULTS: Cronbach’s α showed good to excellent internal consistency (0.78–0.98) over the three core symptom domains of the Chinese version of the ADI-R. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed very high test–retest reliability (Pearson’s correlation coefficients ranging from 0.95 to 0.99). EFA supported three categories of factors. For correct diagnosis of ASD, the Chinese version of the ADI-R had high sensitivity (97.30%), specificity (100%), positive predictive value (PPV) (100%), and negative predictive value (NPV) (94.29%). All domains also showed excellent area under the curves (0.991–1), sensitivity (94.59–98.65%), specificity (96.97–100%), Youden index (94.59–98.65%), PPV (97.78–100%), NPV (89.19–100%), positive likelihood ratio (32.55–33.00%) and negative likelihood ratio (0.00–0.05) after statistical examination. CONCLUSION: The Chinese version of the ADI-R is a reliable and valid diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of ASD in Clinical settings in Taiwan.