Assessment of the correlation between subscale scores on the ABC scale and the CARS scale for pediatric and adolescent patients with autism

LI Jialong; MAO Honghui; GAO Feng; ZHAO Ningxia; WANG Wenting; WU Shengxi

doi:10.13276/j.issn.2097-1656.2025.12.009

Abstract：Objective To investigate the relationship between the subscale scores of the Autism Behavior Checklist(ABC)and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale(CARS)based on the ratings obtained from both the ABC and the CARS during the same timeframe.Methods Through case screening and extraction of scores of subscales in the ABC scale and the CARS scale,57 behavioral characteristics in 5 aspects of sensation,communication,physical movement,language,and self-care in the ABC scale were matched to 15 subscales from the CARS scale.SPSS software was used to conduct a retrospective correlation analysis of the corresponding subscales or combinations of subscales in the ABC scale and CARS scale.Results There was a significant correlation between sensation,communication,and self-care in the ABC scale and more than 10 subscales in the CARS scale(P＜0.05),and they were most correlated with the total score of the CARS scale(r＞0.6).However,there was no significant correlation between more than 10 subscales in sports or language and the subscales in the CARS scale(P＞0.05),and language was negatively correlated with each related subscale in the CARS scale(r＜0).The 14 items in the CARS scale except for language and communication were correlated with the total score of the ABC scale(P＞0.05),among which 7 items were most correlated with the total score of the ABC scale when compared with different combinations of ABC scale(r＞0.4).Conclusion The evaluation effects of ABC scale and CARS scale are similar,indicating a high correlation between the two,which suggests that both have evaluation effects on autism behavior.Among them,CARS scale has higher synergy and representativeness compared to ABC scale,indicating that when there is a difference in the evaluation results between the two scales,CARS scale can be used as the main evaluation basis.