Abstract
Several reports suggest children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to be seen for injury-related ED visits; however, no nationally representative study has examined this question. Using data from the 2008 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, over a quarter of all visits among those with ASD were related to injury. In the multivariate analyses, the odds of an injury-related visit was 54 % greater among those with ASD compared to youth with intellectual disability (ID), but 48 % less compared to youth without ID or ASD. Compared to all other pediatric injury-visits in the US, visits among children with ASD were more likely to be due to self-inflicted injury and poisoning and were more likely to result in hospitalization (all p < 0.001).
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Author Contributions
LK, RV, and HW conceived of the study and participated in the design; LK, RV, HW, EB, RW, and MG particpated in interpretation of the data and coordination of the study; LK performed the statistical analysis; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Kalb, L.G., Vasa, R.A., Ballard, E.D. et al. Epidemiology of Injury-Related Emergency Department Visits in the US Among Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 2756–2763 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2820-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-016-2820-7