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Primary Medical Care for Children with Autism Needs Improvement |
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From EurekAlert! - Breaking News: Children with autism do not receive the same quality of primary care as children with other special health care needs, according to research from the University of Minnesota Medical School. A study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that parents of children with autism were less likely to report that their children received the type of primary care advocated by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) when compared to parents of children with other special health care needs. "This study shows that children with autism are less likely to receive the type of primary medical care that we hope for all children," says principal investigator Allison Brachlow, M.D., research fellow at the Department of Pediatrics. For example, parents of children with autism were less likely to report that their child's primary care provider spent adequate time with them, offered understandable explanations, or discussed outside services, such as speech and occupational therapies. Researchers analyzed data from the National Survey for Children's Health (NSCH) which surveyed 102,353 parents or legal guardians of children under 18 across the nation. Additionally, the diagnosis of autism is clinical, meaning there are no blood tests to determine if a patient has autism.
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