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. 2018 Feb;48(2):461-472.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3337-4.

Injuries in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Study to Explore Early Development (SEED)

Carolyn DiGuiseppi  1 , Susan E Levy  2 , Katherine R Sabourin  3 , Gnakub N Soke  3   4 , Steven Rosenberg  5 , Li-Ching Lee  6 , Eric Moody  5 , Laura A Schieve  4
Affiliations

Injuries in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Study to Explore Early Development (SEED)

Carolyn DiGuiseppi et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2018 Feb.

Abstract

This study examined caregiver-reported medically-attended injuries among 30-68 month old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to general population (POP) and non-ASD developmental disorders (DD) controls in the Study to Explore Early Development. Injuries were common in ASD cases (32.3%) as well as POP (30.2%) and DD (27.8%) controls; most resulted in an emergency visit or hospitalization. After accounting for sociodemographic, health, IQ and behavior differences, odds of injury in ASD cases were significantly higher than DD controls but similar to POP controls. Attention problems mediated the relationships. Clinicians caring for children with both ASD and attention problems should consider providing targeted safety advice. Differences in injury risk between children with ASD vs. other developmental disorders need further study.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Developmental delays and disorders; Epidemiology; Injuries; Prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The author declares that they have no conflict of interest.

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