Community testing practices for autism within the autism and developmental disabilities monitoring network.
Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol
; 38(5): 426-431, 2024 Jul.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38531639
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
No data exist at the population level on what tests are used to aid in the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in community practice.OBJECTIVES:
To describe autism spectrum disorder testing practices to inform autism spectrum disorder identification efforts.METHODS:
Data are from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a multi-site surveillance system reporting prevalence estimates and characteristics of 8-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder. Percentages of children with autism spectrum disorder who received any autism spectrum disorder test or a 'gold standard' test were calculated by site, sex, race, median household income, and intellectual ability status. Risk ratios were calculated to compare group differences.RESULTS:
Of 5058 8-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder across 11 sites, 3236 (64.0%) had a record of any autism spectrum disorder test and 2136 (42.2%) had a 'gold standard' ADOS or ADI-R test. Overall, 115 children (2.3%) had both the ADOS and ADI-R in their records. Differences persisted across race, median household income, and intellectual ability status. Asian/Pacific Islander children had the highest percent receiving any ASD test (71.8%; other groups range 57.4-66.0%) and White children had the highest percent receiving 'gold standard' tests (46.4%; other groups range 35.6-43.2%). Children in low-income neighbourhoods had a lower percent of any test (62.5%) and 'gold standard' tests (39.4%) compared to medium (70.2% and 47.5%, respectively) and high (69.6% and 46.8%, respectively) income neighbourhoods. Children with intellectual disability had a lower percent of any ASD test (81.7%) and 'gold standard' tests (52.6%) compared to children without intellectual disability (84.0% and 57.6%, respectively).CONCLUSIONS:
Autism spectrum disorder testing practices vary widely by site and differ by race and presence of co-occurring intellectual disability, suggesting opportunities to standardise and/or improve autism spectrum disorder identification practices.Key words
Full text:
1
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Developmental Disabilities
/
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Limits:
Child
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Year:
2024
Type:
Article