Adolescents with autism spectrum disorder need better access to primary care and specialist services to avoid trips to the emergency department, researchers from Penn State College of Medicine researchers concluded in a new study.
They examined private insurance healthcare claims for 12- to 21-year-olds from 2005 to 2013. Adolescents with autism included in the study had at least two such diagnoses during that timeframe, to reduce the chance of including misdiagnoses.
Emergency department use in children with autism increased from 3 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2013, even though there was no significant increase in autism rates in that time period. Also, ED use in adolescents without an autism diagnosis stayed steady at 3 percent.
"We believe if their regular medical and behavioral specialist services served them better, a big portion of them would end up with fewer emergency department visits," said Guodong Liu, PhD, the study's lead author.
"These patients need to be actively taken care of and monitored," he continued. "There should be better communication between these adolescents and their caregivers and with their regular pediatricians and specialists. If we can do those kinds of things, we may help them have less frequent emergencies."