Autism: Comorbidities and Treatment Patterns in the Real World, a Retrospective Cohort Study Among Children, Adolescents and Adults Newly Diagnosed with Autism

• Published in: Journal of autism and developmental disorders Vol. 52; no. 10; pp. 4311 - 4320
• Main Authors: Shoaib, Azza, Cepeda, M. Soledad, Murray, Gayle, Ochs-Ross, Rachel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-10-2022; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescents; Adults; Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Autistic adolescents; Autistic children; Behavior Modification; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Care and treatment; Child and School Psychology; Children; Cohort analysis; Combination therapy; Comorbidity; Demographic aspects; Diagnosis; Drug Therapy; Emotional disorders; Emotional Disturbances; Health care; Hyperactivity; Intervention; Medicaid; Morbidity; Neurosciences; Newly diagnosed; Original Paper; Patients; Pediatrics; Pervasive developmental disorders; Pharmacology; Psychology; Psychotropic drugs; Public Health; United States; Real world data; Treatment intervention; Intervention patterns; Comorbid neurological conditions
• ISSN: 0162-3257; 1573-3432
• DOI: 10.1007/s10803-021-05289-x

We used real world data to summarize comorbidities and interventions among patients newly diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Data were derived from two claims-based US healthcare databases; Medicaid and Optum to construct a retrospective cohort of 36,000 patients. Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity-Disorder (ADHD) was the most common co-morbidity (Medicaid: 50.09%; Optum: 44.16%), followed by mood disorder (Medicaid: 16.56% and Optum: 17.47%). Most patients received at least one type of treatment. Behavioral therapy was common (74.64% in Medicaid and 71.97% in Optum). More than half the cohorts received at least 1 pharmacotherapy. However, pharmacotherapies were diverse. Combination therapy and therapy switching was common. Understanding the clinical diversity and complexity of patients with ASD is an important first step in understanding unmet therapeutic needs.