Back to Search
Start Over
Health Disparities in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder and COVID-19
- Source :
- Children, Vol 11, Iss 11, p 1363 (2024)
- Publication Year :
- 2024
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2024.
-
Abstract
- Background/Objectives: Pediatric patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face unique challenges, especially amongst individuals from historically minoritized racial groups. ASD has also been associated with an increased mortality from COVID-19. This study aims to explore the differences in sociodemographic factors and health outcomes (as measured by length of stay) amongst hospitalized pediatric patients with COVID-19 infections and a diagnosis of ASD compared to individuals with a COVID-19 infection alone; Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study examining pediatric patients (ages birth to 21) who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of ASD and COVID-19 compared to patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 alone between January 2019 and June 2023 using Epic Systems Corporation’s Cosmos, a de-identified dataset aggregated from electronic health record data. We examined differences in demographic factors and length of stay (LOS) between groups by utilizing chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum tests. Multiple logistic regression models were utilized to assess the association between length of stay and diagnosis; Results: A total of 21,708 distinct pediatric patients with a diagnosis of ASD and COVID-19 or COVID-19 alone were included in the analytical dataset. Patients with ASD and COVID-19, compared to patients with COVID-19 alone, had a higher proportion of individuals identifying as male and White. Patients with COVID-19 alone, compared to individuals with ASD and COVID-19, had higher proportions of individuals identifying as Black or African American. Higher proportions of individuals with ASD and COVID-19 had public insurance, compared to individuals with COVID-19 alone. Having a diagnosis of ASD and COVID, after controlling for covariates, was associated with higher odds of having a length of stay greater than the three days (cutoff value determined by the median LOS of three days) compared to having a diagnosis of COVID alone (aOR 1.19, 95% CI 1.04–1.35); Conclusions: Our study highlights the health disparities experienced during hospitalizations by pediatric patients with ASD and COVID-19. Further studies should address barriers and support health outcomes for pediatric patients with ASD.
- Subjects :
- autism spectrum disorder
COVID-19
health disparities
Pediatrics
RJ1-570
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 22279067
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 11
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Children
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.352c43f53d4923a19351cc2cba720e
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/children11111363