28292222

PMC5567738

Objective

The study examines how healthcare utilization patterns change as youths diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) transition into the adult healthcare system.

Methods

Data come from the Clinformatics™ Data Mart Database, a nationally diverse, clinically rich, private insurance claims database. The analytic sample consists of youths 16-23 diagnosed with ASD (N=16,338). Cross-sectional multivariate linear regressions determine if service usage differs by age across the home, office/outpatient, inpatient, and emergency department (ED) settings.

Results

The proportion of youths with ASD who receive services declines with age in each setting other than the ED. A similar reduction exists in the total number of visits in the office/outpatient and inpatient settings, while home and ED visits remain stable. Youths with co-occurring intellectual disability experience a faster decline in service utilization.

Conclusions

There is a notable decline in service utilization across multiple settings as youths with ASD transition from pediatric to adult healthcare.

CDC Public Access

CC999999/Intramural CDC HHS/United States