Table 1.
Health care Utilization Among Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, and General Population Controls, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2012
| ASD (N = 1507), n (%) | ADHD (N = 9042), n (%) | GP (N = 15070), n (%) | ASD vs. ADHD adjusted OR a (95% CI) | ASD vs. GP adjusted OR a (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any outpatient visit | 1299 (86.2) | 7387 (81.7) | 10648 (70.7) | 1.4 (1.2–1.7) | 2.1 (1.8–2.4) |
| Primary care | 1118 (74.2) | 6020 (66.6) | 8907 (59.1) | 1.4 (1.3–1.6) | 1.6 (1.4–1.8) |
| Mental health/psychiatry | 653 (43.3) | 3001 (33.2) | 816 (5.4) | 1.6 (1.4–1.8) | 11.5 (10.0–13.2) |
| Neurology | 85 (5.6) | 314 (3.5) | 223 (1.5) | 1.1 (0.8–1.5) | 1.7 (1.3–2.4) |
| Speech therapy | 12 (0.80) | 11 (0.1) | 10 (0.07) | 5.0 (2.0–12.2) | 16.0 (6.4–40.1) |
| Physical/occupational therapy | 57 (3.8) | 694 (7.7) | 702 (4.7) | 0.5 (0.4–0.6) | 0.62 (0.5–0.8) |
| Laboratory | 918 (60.9) | 4914 (54.4) | 7158 (47.5) | 1.3 (1.2–1.5) | 1.5 (1.3–1.7) |
| Radiology | 377 (25.0) | 2765 (30.6) | 3842 (25.5) | 0.7 (0.6–0.8) | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) |
| Emergency department visit | 306 (20.3) | 1901 (21.0) | 2170 (14.4) | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) | 1.0 (0.9–1.2) |
| Inpatient hospitalization | 84 (5.6) | 377 (4.2) | 480 (3.2) | 1.1 (0.9–1.5) | 1.3 (1.0–1.7) |
| Same-day hospitalization | 52 (3.4) | 336 (3.7) | 500 (3.3) | 0.9 (0.7–1.3) | 0.7 (0.5–1.0) |
| Hospitalization for ambulatory care sensitive diagnoses | 81 (5.4) | 210 (2.3) | 475 (3.1) | 2.1 (1.6–2.9) | 1.2 (1.0–1.6) |
Adjusted for gender, age, race/ethnicity, total length of KPNC membership, and nine categories of medical and psychiatric comorbidities (immune conditions, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, neurological disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, sleep disorders, psychiatric conditions, nutritional conditions, and endocrine conditions) identified with diagnosis codes for primary and secondary reasons for visit.
ASD, autism spectrum disorder; ADHD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; GP, general population; OR, odds ratio; CI, confidence interval; KPNC, Kaiser Permanente Northern California.