Use of the international classification of diseases-10, (ICD 10) to recognise pervasively hyperactive children in a child-guidance clinic: feasibility and validity.

The tenth edition of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD 10) was used to identify psychiatric problems in a provincial child-guidance clinic population. Categorisation by degree of hyperactivity produced groups that differed in terms of variables that were independent of the diagnostic criteria. ICD 10 was found to be a short, precise and manageable schedule which facilitated reliable categorisation of a group of children with mixed disorders of conduct and hyperkinesis.