Adolescents With Autism 4 Times More Likely To Visit Emergency Department

Adolescents and young adults ages 12 through 21 with autism accessed emergency department (ED) services four times as often as adolescents without autism. Older adolescents and those living in rural areas showed a significant increase in ED visits over time.

These findings were reported in “A Profile on Emergency Department Utilization in Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” by Guodong Liu, Amanda M. Pearl, Lan Kong, Douglas L. Leslie, and Michael J. Murray. The researchers analyzed rates of ED utilization between 2005 and 2013 by youth 12- to 21-years-old and diagnosed with autism. They also analyzed . . .