Injuries among children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Objective We compared risk of injury among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to those without ASD, adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics. Methods We used claims data from 2001 to 2009 from a commercial health plan in the United States. A validated ASD case identification algorithm identified 33,565 children (ages 0-20 years) with ASD and 138,876 children without. Counting process models tested the association between ASD status and injury episodes with separate regressions run for children during different age periods. Results Unadjusted results demonstrated that children with ASD had a 12% greater injury risk than children without ASD (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.119; P