Autism and Medical Complexity Among Children in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Ongoing systems-level changes aim to better identify and remedy the unmet health care needs of children with medical complexity (CMC). In tandem, home- and community-based services are expanding to support autistic children and their families. Despite the potential for overlap, CMC and autistic children are treated independently in services, research, and policy. We estimated the overlapping prevalence of CMC and autism among US children and health care expenditures for autistic CMC in comparison with other children.

Methods

We analyzed 2 national cross-sectional surveys: the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH; 2017-2018, 2019-2022, and 2021-2022) and the Medical Expenditures Panel Survey (MEPS; combined 2010-2021), selecting for children ag

SUBMITTER: Smith PH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12318121 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature