Adamou Marios, Jones Sarah L, Fullen Tim, Alty Bronwen, Ward Jennifer, Nixon Mills Joanne
School of Human & Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield HD1 3DH, UK.
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Wakefield WF1 3SP, UK.
J Clin Med. 2025 Apr 24;14(9):2933. doi: 10.3390/jcm14092933.
: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition affecting 1.1% of adults. The increasing incidence of ASD has led to pressurised diagnostic services. : We aimed to determine the number needed to harm (NNH) of criteria-informed triage assessment in an adult autism diagnostic service in the UK. : The study was conducted at a specialist adult Autism Service in West Yorkshire, UK, from November 2021 to August 2022. All eligible referrals were accepted, with criteria requiring service users to be over 18 years old and without an intellectual disability. The evaluation consisted of 60 cases. : None of the evaluation cases resulted in a clinical diagnosis of ASD, yielding an infinite number needed to harm (NNH), demonstrating that every case benefited from the triage process without significant risk of harm. : Triage enables services to gather comprehensive information about individual presentations and clinical needs, facilitating informed decision-making and better service utilisation. The evaluation demonstrates the safety and effectiveness of the triage process, with directions for further research discussed.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种终身神经发育疾病，影响着1.1%的成年人。ASD发病率的上升给诊断服务带来了压力。我们旨在确定英国一项成人自闭症诊断服务中基于标准的分诊评估的伤害所需人数（NNH）。该研究于2021年11月至2022年8月在英国西约克郡的一家专业成人自闭症服务机构进行。所有符合条件的转诊病例均被接受，标准要求服务使用者年龄超过18岁且无智力残疾。评估包括60个病例。所有评估病例均未得出ASD的临床诊断结果，得出的伤害所需人数为无穷大，这表明每个病例都从分诊过程中受益，且没有明显的伤害风险。分诊使服务机构能够收集有关个体表现和临床需求的全面信息，有助于做出明智的决策并更好地利用服务。该评估证明了分诊过程的安全性和有效性，并讨论了进一步研究的方向。
