Table 4.
Prescribed Medication Utilization Among Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention-Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, and General Population Controls, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, 2012
| Medication group a | ASD N = 1507, n (%) | ADHD N = 9.042, n (%) | GP N = 15,070, n (%) | ASD vs. ADHD adjusted OR b (95% CI) | ASD vs. GP adjusted OR b (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Any medications (overall) | 1199 (79.6) | 7139 (79.0) | 9313 (61.8) | 1.0 (0.8–1.1) | 1.9 (1.7–2.2) |
| Psychotherapeutic medications | 927 (61.5) | 4478 (49.5) | 2273 (15.1) | 1.7 (1.5–1.9) | 8.0 (7.1–9.1) |
| Antidepressants | 592 (39.3) | 2681 (29.7) | 1245 (8.3) | 1.7 (1.5–1.9) | 6.1 (5.4–7.0) |
| Antipsychotics | 457 (30.3) | 591 (6.54) | 158 (1.1) | 6.2 (5.4–7.2) | 32.7 (26.7–40.0) |
| ADHD medications | 129 (8.6) | 2126 (23.5) | 148 (1.0) | 0.3 (0.3–0.4) | 7.4 (5.7–9.5) |
| Other | 543 (36.0) | 2047 (22.6) | 1436 (9.5) | 1.9 (1.7–2.2) | 4.1 (3.6–4.7) |
| Anticonvulsants | 97 (6.4) | 103 (1.1) | 82 (0.5) | 3.4 (2.5–4.7) | 4.4 (3.1–6.3) |
| Analgesics/antirheumatics | 293 (19.4) | 2954 (32.7) | 3616 (24.0) | 0.4 (0.4–0.5) | 0.6 (0.5–0.6) |
| Anti-infectives | 425 (28.2) | 3314 (36.7) | 4323 (28.7) | 0.6 (0.6–0.7) | 0.8 (0.7–0.9) |
| Gastrointestinal medications | 273 (18.1) | 1571 (17.4) | 1801 (12.0) | 1.0 (0.8–1.2) | 1.2 (1.0–1.4) |
| Respiratory/allergy medications | 320 (21.2) | 2122 (23.5) | 2748 (18.2) | 0.9 (0.8–1.0) | 1.0 (0.8–1.1) |
| Diabetes medications | 87 (5.8) | 301 (3.3) | 515 (3.4) | 1.6 (1.2–2.1) | 1.7 (1.3–2.2) |
| Cardiovascular medications | 312 (20.7) | 1437 (15.9) | 2005 (13.3) | 1.4 (1.2–1.7) | 1.7 (1.5–2.1) |
| Lipid/cholesterol medications | 165 (11.0) | 684 (7.6) | 979 (6.5) | 1.7 (1.4–2.1) | 2.0 (1.6–2.5) |
| Hypertension medications | 205 (13.6) | 1034 (11.4) | 1406 (9.3) | 1.2 (1.0–1.5) | 1.4 (1.2–1.7) |
a
KPNC groups medications into therapeutic classes based on the National Drug Code (NDC) system.
b
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 the primary and secondary reasons for visit.