Katharina Buczek
According to the CDC, about one in forty-four children have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While past studies have identified more health care service usage among children with ASD as compared to the general pediatric population, new data analysis has discovered healthcare usage disparities across genders, racial, and ethnic groups.
Professor Amber Angell of the University of Southern California led the recently published study in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Angell and her team gathered their data from OneFlorida Data Trust, a database that is home to information from twenty-two hospitals and over twelve hundred medical practices throughout Florida.
Through the use of statistical probability modeling, the research team found drastic differences in U.S. health care usage depending on gender, race, and ethnicity.
Angell described how this data inquiry and analysis was the first of its kind.
“In recent years, researchers and clinicians have started to pay attention to understudied autistic groups, including girls and Black and Latinx children. Although, we do not know much about whether or how these kids are getting the healthcare they need,” Angell said.
“This analysis provides a starting point based on real-world clinical data to see, on a large scale, how these groups are utilizing not only primary health care but also specialty care like neurology and psychology,” Angell continued.
In their analysis, the team found autistic boys were much more likely to seek our neurology and psychology visits as opposed to autistic girls.
On the flip side, autistic boys had lower annual primary care, neurology, and gastroenterology visits.
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