Epidemiology of reading disability: A comparison of DSM-5 and ICD-11 criteria

ABSTRACT

The present study performed a systematic comparison of DSM-5 and ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for reading disability. We quantitatively investigated the consequences of using DSM-5 or ICD-11, and of the different ways of implementing each diagnostic criterion on the prevalence of reading disability. We did so in a representative sample of the population of French sixth-graders (N = 25,000), using a reading comprehension test to assess reading ability. A compromise set of criteria and thresholds yielded a prevalence of 6.6% according to DSM-5 and 3.5% according to ICD-11. Factors that had the greatest influence on prevalence estimates were the criteria relative to IQ and to interference with academic performance. Compared with the reference population, children with reading disability were more likely to be boys (sex ratio≈1.6), to be schooled in a disadvantaged area (OR≈2.1), and to have lower SES (d≈-0.7), non-verbal IQ (d≈-0.4 – -0.9), and math scores (d≈-1.4). Our results emphasize that the choice of classification and the operationalization of diagnostic criteria have a large impact on who is diagnosed with reading disability.

Authors’ contributions

FR designed the study, CDF and AG performed the analysis under supervision of HP and FR, CDF and FR wrote the paper, all authors revised the paper and approved the final version.

Disclosure statement

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work has received support under the program “Investissements d’Avenir” launched by the French Government and implemented by ANR with the references ANR-17-EURE-0017 and ANR-10-IDEX-000102 PSL. The data used was obtained from « Panel d’élèves du second degré, recrutement 2007 2007-2013, DEPP - Ministère de l’Éducation [producteur], ADISP-CMH [diffuseur] ».