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Using computers (to administer continuous performance tests)to diagnose AD/HD may be convenient, but doctors warn that computers alone may not be entirely reliable for what can be a complicated and complex diagnosis.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine compared the computerized test with other procedures and found that the machines may incorrectly identify healthy children as having AD/HD. Their findings appear in the December 2001 issue of the journal Assessment "As computerized measures are administered more frequently, there may be a risk of overdiagnosis and treatment of "ADHD" in normal children," warned the team from UCSD.

The UCSD study compared the Conners Parent Rating Scale, a questionnaire used to help diagnose AD/HD, to the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), a computerized test designed to identify symptoms associated with AD/HD. The study included 28 children who had been previously diagnosed as having AD/HD. Twenty children who were known not to have AD/HD were used as controls. Both the Conners and the TOVA correctly diagnosed about 85% of the children who were known to have AD/HD. However, the TOVA indicated attention problems in approximately 30% of the children who had not been diagnosed. The Conners Scale correctly identified these children as not having AD/HD.

Rather than relying on only one measure of attention, the researchers recommend a combined approach using questionnaires, clinical evaluation, and computerized tests of attention in the assessment of possible AD/HD.