Autism should be approached as a chronic health condition, scientists recommend

Children and adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have a variety of medical and psychiatric conditions and an increased use of health care services.

In the most recent study on this problem a group of researcher analysed medical records of Kaiser Permanente Northern California members who were 14 to 25 years old. Individuals with ASD (n = 4123) were compared with peers with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (n = 20 615), diabetes mellitus (n = 2156), and typical controls with neither condition (n = 20 615).

After controlling for sex, age, race, and duration of Kaiser Permanente Northern California membership, most psychiatric conditions were significantly more common in the ASD group than in each comparison group, and most medical conditions were significantly more common in the ASD group than in the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and typical control groups but were similar to or significantly less common than the diabetes mellitus group.

The most commonly reported medical conditions in ASD group included infections (42%), obesity (25%), neurologic conditions (18%), allergy and/or immunologic conditions (16%), musculoskeletal conditions (15%), and gastrointestinal (11%) conditions.

Based on their findings the authors conclude that although more research is needed to identify factors contributing to this excess burden of disease in autism, there is a pressing need for all clinicians to approach ASD as a chronic health condition requiring regular follow-up and routine screening and treatment of medical and psychiatric issues.

Reference:
Meghan N. Davignon, Yinge Qian, Maria Massolo, Lisa A. Croen (2018). Psychiatric and Medical Conditions in Transition-Aged Individuals With ASD. Pediatrics Apr, 141 (Supplement 4) S335-S345; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2016-4300K

Posted by on Sunday, May 6th, 2018 @ 4:55PM
Categories: News

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