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Patterns of Contact with Hospital for Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Danish Register-Based Study

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to study patterns of contact with hospital for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using Danish population based register data. We included all children born in Denmark from 1994 through 2002. We found that children diagnosed with ASD had an increased rate of contact with hospital, almost regardless of the cause for the hospital contact. Given the overall association between hospital contact for various causes and ASD observed in these data, hospital data should be used cautiously in future studies searching for associations between a specific disease and ASD. If the increased rate of hospital contact overall for children with ASD is not considered, then misleading over interpretations might be made of observed associations between specific diseases and ASD.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the Aarhus University Research Foundation, the Aase and Ejnar Danielsens Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation, and the Familien Hede Nielsens Foundation. The funding sources did not participate in any part of the performance of the study. The study was approved by the Danish Data Protection Agency and the Danish National Board of Health.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest with the results of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Section of Epidemiology, University of Aarhus, Bartholin allé 2, 8000, Århus C, Aarhus, Denmark

    Hjördis Osk Atladóttir

  2. National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Diana E. Schendel

  3. Regional Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark

    Marlene B. Lauritsen

  4. Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit, Department of Pediatrics, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Tine Brink Henriksen

  5. Department of Public Health, Section of Biostatistics, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

    Erik T. Parner

Authors
  1. Hjördis Osk Atladóttir
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  2. Diana E. Schendel
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  3. Marlene B. Lauritsen
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  4. Tine Brink Henriksen
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  5. Erik T. Parner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hjördis Osk Atladóttir.

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Disclaimer The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Atladóttir, H.O., Schendel, D.E., Lauritsen, M.B. et al. Patterns of Contact with Hospital for Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Danish Register-Based Study. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 1717–1728 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1416-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-011-1416-5

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