Exploring the Boundaries of PDDNOS: Analysis of Data from the DSM-IV Autistic Disorder Field Trial

by Jan Buitelaar, Rutger Van der Gaag, Ami Klin and Fred Volkmar. (1999) Jr. Autism and Developmental Disorders 29, 33-43.

“This study aimed to explore the boundaries between PDD and related disorders and to develop classificatory algorithms for what is currently called Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified..”

“Only a limited number of items from the ICD-10 and DSM-IV systems for autistic disorder significantly discriminated the PDDNOS group from other disorders. A scoring rule based on a short set of 7 ICD-10/DSM-IV criteria with a cut off of 3 items and I social interaction item set as mandatory had the best balance between high sensitivity and high specificity in discriminating PDDNOS from non-PDD disorders..” (p. 33).

“ ...true PDDNOS appears to be a much more heterogeneous category than strictly defined autism ... ” (p.39)

“ ...PDDNOS appears to be basically a lesser variant of autism with impairments in social interaction as a key characteristic..”

“This indicates that the clinical diagnosis of PDDNOS probably reflects the presence of other symptoms which are as yet not included in the formal classification systems of DSM-IV and ICD-10..”(p. 41).