Table 1.
Description of type of prescription drugs and polypharmacy by ASD status. Adults with and without ASD matched on age, race, and gender (n = 7092). Medicaid Analytic Extract 2000-2008 (IL, NY, and TX)
| ASD | No ASD | AOR ASD vs. no ASD |
95% CI | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rx type | N | Col% | N | Col % | |||
| 1,772 | 100.0 | 5,320 | 100.0 | ||||
| Any prescription drugb | |||||||
| >20 Rx claims | 1,325 | 74.7 | 1,766 | 33.2 | |||
| ≤20 Rx claims | 353 | 19.9 | 2,857 | 53.7 | |||
| no claim | 94 | 5.3 | 697 | 13.1 | |||
| Dermatologic agents | 850 | 48.0 | 1,711 | 32.2 | 1.75*** | (1.57,1.96) | |
| Respiratory agents | 679 | 38.3 | 1,821 | 34.2 | 1.05 | (0.93,1.17) | |
| Gastrointestinal agents | 560 | 31.6 | 1,235 | 23.2 | 1.39*** | (1.23,1.57) | |
| Miscellaneous agents | 514 | 29.0 | 924 | 17.4 | 1.79*** | (1.57,2.03) | |
| Alternative medicine/nutritional supplements | 437 | 24.7 | 964 | 18.1 | 1.35*** | (1.19,1.55) | |
| Cardiovascular agents | 411 | 23.2 | 1,026 | 19.3 | 1.14* | (1.02,1.31) | |
| Antiparkinson agents | 401 | 22.6 | 523 | 9.8 | 2.50*** | (2.16,2.89) | |
| Statins/other antihyperlipidemics | 129 | 7.3 | 266 | 5.0 | 1.39** | (1.11,1.73) | |
| Immunologics | 35 | 2.0 | 37 | 0.7 | 2.65*** | (1.66,4.23) | |
| Other metabolic agents | 25 | 1.4 | 57 | 1.1 | 1.21 | (0.75,1.95) | |
| Antimicrobials | 822 | 46.4 | 2,913 | 54.8 | 0.56*** | (0.50,0.63) | |
| Analgesics | 503 | 28.4 | 2,615 | 49.2 | 0.32*** | (0.29,0.36) | |
| Hormone modifiers/steroids | 281 | 15.9 | 909 | 17.1 | 0.81** | (0.69,0.94) | |
| CNS agents (excluding stimulants) | 74 | 4.2 | 540 | 10.2 | 0.35*** | (0.27,0.45) | |
| Antidiabetics | 62 | 3.5 | 262 | 4.9 | 0.64** | (0.48,0.85) | |
| Blood modifiers | 44 | 2.5 | 219 | 4.1 | 0.53*** | (0.38,0.74) | |
| Anticancera | 13 | 0.7 | 121 | 2.3 | |||
| Psychotropic medications | 1,510 | 85.2 | 2,254 | 42.4 | 9.79*** | (8.25,11.6) | |
| Antipsychotics | 1,170 | 66.0 | 1,072 | 20.2 | 7.97*** | (7.02,9.05) | |
| Anticonvulsants | 1,048 | 59.1 | 1,042 | 19.6 | 5.85*** | (5.18,6.61) | |
| Antidepressants | 652 | 36.8 | 1,361 | 25.6 | 1.54*** | (1.36,1.73) | |
| Anxiolytics/Hypnotics/Sedatives | 380 | 21.4 | 587 | 11.0 | 2.03*** | (1.76,2.34) | |
| CNS stimulants | 33 | 1.9 | 54 | 1.0 | 1.69* | (1.09,2.62) | |
| Polypharmacy | |||||||
| General polypharmacy (≥6 classes) | 856 | 48.3 | 1,727 | 32.5 | |||
| Psychotropic polypharmacy (≥3 classes) | 337 | 19.0 | 312 | 5.9 | |||
| ASD vs. no ASD | OR (95% CI ) | AOR (95% CI) | |||||
| ≥6 classes vs. <6 classes | 1.74*** | (1.56,1.95) | 1.17* | (1.03,1.33) | |||
| ≥3 vs. <3 psychotropic classes | 1.65*** | (1.39,1.96) | 1.40*** | (1.17,1.68) | |||
Based on chi-square estimates for fee for service enrolled individuals aged 22–64 years with no Medicare coverage and alive in IL, NY, and TX Medicaid from 2000-2008. Fischer exact tests were conducted for variables with expected cell count <5
ASD Autism Spectrum Disorders, Rx Prescription Drug, Col % Column percentages, OR Odds ratio, AOR Adjusted odds ratio
*** p < 0.001; **0.001 ≤ p < 0.01; *0.01 ≤ p < 0.05
aChi-square test was not conducted due to very low cell sizes. All chi-square associations were significant at ***P < 0.001
bEstimates also tested with Wilcoxon-Mann Whitney tests