[Care for adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder and an intellectual disability]

Due to an experienced gap in care for adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and an intellectual disability (ID), an interdisciplinary outpatient clinic was initiated by child- and adolescent psychiatry services together with intellectual disability physicians in the Rotterdam region in 2017.

Evaluation of the ASD-ID outpatient clinic.

A retrospective chart review study of the first year of the ASD-ID outpatient clinic was performed. The care specific traits of the adolescents who visited the ASD-ID outpatient clinic, their health care costs and the effect of the ASD-ID outpatient clinic on both the health care costs and the patient outflow was compared to the traits of the adolescents of the autism outpatient clinic.

32 adolescents who were referred to the ASD-ID outpatient clinic were comparable to 204 adolescents of the autism outpatient clinic in age (mean 16.5 years) and gender (75% male). They had 39% more DSM-IV classifications, were in care 3.7 years longer and had 44% more health care costs. After visiting the ASD-ID outpatient clinic, 50% of the adolescents were transferred within a year and 100% within three years to a intellectual disability physician.

Adolescents with ASD and ID are a group with a substantial demand for care who deserve specific attention. An integrated ASD-ID outpatient clinic contributes to this demand.