Brief Report: An Exploratory Study Comparing Diagnostic Outcomes for Autism Spectrum Disorders Under DSM-IV-TR with the Proposed DSM-5 Revision

The proposed revision for Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fifth Edition (DSM-5) represents a shift from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR). As the proposed DSM-5 criteria require a higher minimum number of symptoms to be present compared to DSM-IV-TR, there have been some concerns about the impact that this will have on diagnostic outcomes. Therefore, the current study aimed to compare diagnostic outcomes using both DSM-IV-TR and DSM-5 criteria for 132 children. Of the 111 participants who received an ASD diagnosis under DSM-IV-TR, 26 did not meet DSM-5 criteria. The majority of these had received a DSM-IV-TR PDD-NOS diagnosis. Implications of the results and the proposed DSM-5 changes to the ASD criteria are discussed.