In the development and update process of clinical practice guidelines (CPG) is necessary to focus research questions as much as possible to optimize the systematic reviews. We carried out a scoping review as a precursor to a systematic review to update the recommendation of a CPG for the Management of Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorders in Primary Care. To our knowledge, there is limited information in the existing literature on graphical options for visually presenting scales or other available instruments and classification in a timeline graph.

We conducted a systematic search to identify instruments for screening of neurodevelopmental disorders and early detection and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). All studies were analyzed to retrieve scales and other instruments used in the assessment of neurodevelopment in the preschool children, and detection of signs and symptoms of neurodevelopment disorder or ASD. We developed a timeline graphic to compile all of the instruments retrieved.

The information about the name of instrument, type, age of application, diagnostic accuracy, and context of validation was transferred to spreadsheet of the software program Microsoft Excel in tabular format. The instruments found were finally categorized according to the role of each of them in the diagnostic of autism, and age in which they are used. We developed a timeline graph for visually presenting classified instruments according to utility in the routine developmental surveillance, detection of specific signs and symptoms of ASD and diagnostics and evaluation of autism.

The proposed graphical timeline could assist methodologists and researchers in identifying gaps of evidence and lines of research related to use and validation in different contexts the scales and other instruments actually developed. The process of review of evidence can provide information useful for future research in the context of primary research. The relationship between groups of work of health technology assessment and primary research promote the knowledge transfer and optimization of research.