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Examining Gastrointestinal, Feeding, Sleep, and Anxiety-Related Disorders Among Autistic Pediatric Patients
Rachel Carroll1, April A Braswell2, Anka Roberto2
1Rachel Carroll, Human Services Division, American Institutes for Research, Arlington, VA.
Introduction:
This study examines the prevalence of gastrointestinal, feeding, sleep, and anxiety-related disorders among autistic and nonautistic children and adolescents, controlling for social and environmental factors.
Methods:
We performed chi-squared tests, two-sample t-tests, and multivariate logistic regressions on a sample of data extracted from a health information exchange with records on over 3 million patients in Southeastern North Carolina.
Results:
Results for our primary variable of interest-autism status-are consistent across all models and show that autistic children and adolescents are significantly more likely to have gastrointestinal, feeding, sleep, and anxiety-related disorders than nonautistic children and adolescents.
Discussion:
This study highlights critical intersections between physical and mental health among autistic pediatric patients. Unexpected missing diagnoses among autistic children in our sample could suggest the need for holistic screening practices among advanced pediatric providers in this population. Our findings carry important implications for psychiatric, primary, and specialty care providers.
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