Vidriales-Fernández Ruth, Plaza-Sanz Marta, Hernández-Layna Cristina, Verde-Cagiao María, Benito-Ruiz Guillermo, Carvajal-Molina Fernando
Confederación Autismo España, Madrid, Spain.
Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Isabel I, Burgos, Spain.
Front Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 8;14:1088727. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1088727. eCollection 2023.
Autistic men and women are more likely to experience health issues than the general population, although the available epidemiological studies addressing co-occurrence conditions are limited. This is the first Spanish epidemiologic study addressing the health profile and poor-health exacerbating factors in individuals of all ages with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
We analyzed 2,629 registries extracted from Autism Spain's sociodemographic registry (November 2017-May 2020). A descriptive health data analysis was conducted to assess the prevalence of other conditions associated to ASD in the Spanish population. Nervous system disorders (12.9%), mental health diagnoses (17.8%), and other comorbidities (25.4%) were reported. Men-to-women ratio was 4:1.
Women, elder individuals and those with intellectual disability (ID) were at an increased risk of health comorbidities and psychopharmacological exposure. Women were also more prone to severe intellectual and functional impairment. Nearly all individuals had difficulties in their adaptative functioning, especially those with ID (50% of the population). Almost half of the sample received psychopharmacological treatments starting from infancy and early childhood, mostly antipsychotics and anticonvulsants.
This study represents an important first approach to the health status of autistic people in Spain and can contribute to the development of public policies and innovative health strategies.
自闭症男性和女性比普通人群更容易出现健康问题，尽管目前关于共病情况的流行病学研究有限。这是西班牙第一项针对各年龄段自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者的健康状况和健康恶化因素的流行病学研究。
我们分析了从西班牙自闭症协会社会人口登记处（2017年11月至2020年5月）提取的2629份记录。进行了描述性健康数据分析，以评估西班牙人群中与ASD相关的其他疾病的患病率。报告了神经系统疾病（12.9%）、心理健康诊断（17.8%）和其他合并症（25.4%）。男女比例为4:1。
女性、年长者和智力残疾（ID）患者出现健康合并症和接受精神药物治疗的风险增加。女性也更容易出现严重的智力和功能障碍。几乎所有个体在适应功能方面都有困难，尤其是那些有ID的个体（占总人数的50%）。几乎一半的样本从婴儿期和幼儿期就开始接受精神药物治疗，主要是抗精神病药物和抗惊厥药物。
这项研究是对西班牙自闭症患者健康状况的重要首次探索，可为公共政策和创新健康策略的制定做出贡献。
