Table 3.
Health behavior profile of autistic adults.
| Answer | Autistic adult | Carer | Professional | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | Do not know | Yes | No | Do not know | Yes, LESS frequent | No, not LESS frequent | Do not know | |
| Routine pattern for regular physical activity | 255 (49.5) | 245 (47.6) | 15 (2.9) | 217 (49.7) | 214 (49.0) | 6 (1.4) | 80 (71.4) | 20 (17.9) | 12 (10.7) |
| Routine pattern for dental check-ups | 277 (53.9) | 228 (44.4) | 9 (1.8) | 314 (71.9) | 114 (26.1) | 9 (2.1) | 77 (68.8) | 21 (18.8) | 14 (12.5) |
| Routine pattern for vision check-ups | 200 (38.9) | 304 (59.1) | 10 (2.0) | 160 (36.6) | 265 (60.6) | 12 (2.8) | 71 (63.4) | 21 (18.8) | 20 (17.9) |
| Routine pattern for hearing tests | 46 (9.0) | 455 (88.5) | 13 (2.5) | 36 (8.2) | 387 (88.6) | 14 (3.2) | 63 (56.3) | 24 (21.4) | 25 (22.3) |
| Routine pattern for general health check-ups | 174 (33.9) | 327 (63.6) | 13 (2.5) | 226 (51.7) | 198 (45.3) | 13 (3.0) | 68 (60.7) | 28 (25.0) | 16 (14.3) |
| Routine pattern for sexual health check-ups | 80 (15.6) | 422 (82.1) | 12 (2.3) | 33 (7.6) | 379 (86.7) | 25 (5.7) | 71 (63.4) | 18 (16.1) | 23 (20.5) |
| Routine pattern for breast exams* | 86 (25.2) | 248 (72.5) | 8 (2.3) | 13 (10.5) | 104 (83.9) | 7 (5.7) | 56 (50.0) | 20 (17.9) | 36 (32.1) |
| Routine pattern for cervical smears* | 162 (47.4) | 171 (50.0) | 9 (2.6) | 28 (22.6) | 92 (74.2) | 4 (3.2) | 57 (50.9) | 22 (19.6) | 33 (29.5) |
| Yes, MORE frequent | No, not MORE frequent | Do not know | |||||||
| May not recognize/report physical or health problems | N/A | N/A | N/A | 233 (53.3) | 176 (40.3) | 28 (6.4) | 102 (90.3) | 5 (4.4) | 6 (5.3) |
| May not report pain | N/A | N/A | N/A | 228 (52.2) | 193 (44.2) | 16 (3.7) | 99 (87.6) | 4 (3.5) | 10 (8.8) |
| Unusual diet | N/A | N/A | N/A | 205 (46.9) | 224 (51.3) | 8 (1.8) | 95 (84.1) | 11 (9.7) | 7 (6.2) |
| May not recognize/report mental illness | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 100 (88.5) | 6 (5.3) | 7 (6.2) |
Values expressed as number of responders and frequencies (in parenthesis). N autistic adults: 342 to 515; N carers: 124 to 437; N professionals: 112 to 113. N/A, question not available for the correspondent group. *Answers collected only from autistic adult females (self-reported answers or deception of carers). The questions were the following: autistic adult: “Do you have any of the following health characteristics?”; Carer: “In the last 2 years, has the autistic person had any of the following health characteristics?”; Professional, for the first eight characteristics (from top to bottom): “Based on your professional knowledge or work experience, do you believe that the following characteristics are LESS frequent in autistic adults, compared with adults without autism spectrum?”; for the last four characteristics (bottom-most): “Based on your professional knowledge or work experience, do you believe that the following behaviors are MORE frequent in autistic adults, compared with adults not on the autism spectrum.”