Katharina Buczek
Additionally, Black autistic children had much higher odds of receiving any primary care, neurology visits, and developmental-behavioral pediatrics (DBP). However, they had lower odds of any gastroenterology visits.
And in terms of ethnic disparities, Hispanic/Latinx children diagnosed with ASD showed higher rates of primary care, neurology, and DBP visits. However, they were less likely to receive psychological care.
Some of these results did shock Angell since they went against prior studies’ findings.
“We had expected females to use more health care than males. So, we were surprised to learn that autistic males had significantly higher odds of neurology and psychiatry/psychology visits,” Angell said.
“We were also surprised to find that Hispanic/Latinx autistic children had higher odds of any kind of visit, with the exception of psychology, since research had shown that Hispanic/Latinx children have reduced access to subspecialty care,” Angell continued.
While this research does shed essential light on the current usage of health care services amongst autistic children, it has also sparked new questions regarding how clinicians identify autism in different groups.
“It is important the provider education and training for identifying and managing these children’s health needs are based on recent data. Some important future studies will look more closely at why and how the utilization differences we found are happening,” Angell explained.
To read the study’s complete findings, visit the link here.
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