TY - JOUR T1 - Consensus diagnostic criteria for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in Australia: a modified Delphi study JF - BMJ Open JO - BMJ Open DO - 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001918 VL - 2 IS - 5 SP - e001918 AU - Rochelle E Watkins AU - Elizabeth J Elliott AU - Raewyn C Mutch AU - Janet M Payne AU - Heather M Jones AU - Jane Latimer AU - Elizabeth Russell AU - James P Fitzpatrick AU - Lorian Hayes AU - Lucinda Burns AU - Jane Halliday AU - Heather A D'Antoine AU - Amanda Wilkins AU - Elizabeth Peadon AU - Sue Miers AU - Maureen Carter AU - Colleen M O'Leary AU - Anne McKenzie AU - Carol Bower Y1 - 2012/01/01 UR - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/5/e001918.abstract N2 - Objective To evaluate health professionals' agreement with components of published diagnostic criteria for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in order to guide the development of standard diagnostic guidelines for Australia. Design A modified Delphi process was used to assess agreement among health professionals with expertise or experience in FASD screening or diagnosis. An online survey, which included 36 Likert statements on diagnostic methods, was administered over two survey rounds. For fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), health professionals were presented with concepts from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), University of Washington (UW), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), revised IOM and Canadian diagnostic criteria. For partial FAS (PFAS), alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND), and alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD), concepts based on the IOM and the Canadian diagnostic criteria were compared. Setting/participants 130 Australian and 9 international health professionals. Results Of 139 health professionals invited to complete the survey, 103 (74.1%) responded, and 74 (53.2%) completed one or more questions on diagnostic criteria. We found consensus agreement among participants on the diagnostic criteria for FAS, with the UW criteria most commonly endorsed when compared with all other published criteria for FAS. When health professionals were presented with concepts based on the Canadian and IOM diagnostic criteria, we found consensus agreement but no clear preference for either the Canadian or IOM criteria for the diagnosis of PFAS, and no consensus agreement on diagnostic criteria for ARND. We also found no consensus on the IOM diagnostic criteria for ARBD. Conclusions Participants indicated clear support for use of the UW diagnostic criteria for FAS in Australia. These findings should be used to develop guidelines to facilitate improved awareness of, and address identified gaps in the infrastructure for, FASD diagnosis in Australia. ER -