IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2007.131243_7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Racial/ethnic disparities in the identification of children with autism spectrum disorders

Author

Listed:
  • Mandell, D.S.
  • Wiggins, L.D.
  • Carpenter, L.A.
  • Daniels, J.
  • DiGuiseppi, C.
  • Durkin, M.S.
  • Giarelli, E.
  • Morrier, M.J.
  • Nicholas, J.S.
  • Pinto-Martin, J.A.
  • Shattuck, P.T.
  • Thomas, K.C.
  • Yeargin-Allsopp, M.
  • Kirby, R.S.

Abstract

Objectives. We sought to examine racial and ethnic disparities in the recognition of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). Methods. Within a multisite network, 2568 children aged 8 years were identified as meeting surveillance criteria for ASD through abstraction of evaluation records from multiple sources. Through logistic regression with random effects for site, we estimated the association between race/ethnicity and documented ASD, adjusting for gender, IQ, birthweight, and maternal education. Results. Fifty-eight percent of children had a documented autism spectrum disorder. In adjusted analyses, children who were Black (odds ratio [OR]=0.79; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.64, 0.96), Hispanic (OR=0.76; CI=0.56, 0.99), or of other race/ethnicity (OR=0.65; CI=0.43, 0.97) were less likely than were White children to have a documented ASD. This disparity persisted for Black children, regardless of IQ, and was concentrated for children of other ethnicities when IQ was lower than 70. Conclusions. Significant racial/ethnic dispatrities exist in the recognition of ASD. For some children in some racial/ethnic groups, the presence of intellectual disability may affect professionals' further assessment of developmental delay. Our findings suggest the need for continued professional education related to the heterogeneity of the presentation of ASD.

Suggested Citation

  • Mandell, D.S. & Wiggins, L.D. & Carpenter, L.A. & Daniels, J. & DiGuiseppi, C. & Durkin, M.S. & Giarelli, E. & Morrier, M.J. & Nicholas, J.S. & Pinto-Martin, J.A. & Shattuck, P.T. & Thomas, K.C. & Yea, 2009. "Racial/ethnic disparities in the identification of children with autism spectrum disorders," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(3), pages 493-498.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2007.131243_7
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.131243
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2007.131243
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2007.131243?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dhaval M. Dave & Jose M. Fernandez, 2012. "The Effect of an Increase in Autism Prevalence on the Demand for Auxiliary Healthcare Workers: Evidence from California," NBER Working Papers 18238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Dominique H. Como & Leah I. Stein Duker & José C. Polido & Sharon A. Cermak, 2020. "Oral Health and Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Unique Collaboration between Dentistry and Occupational Therapy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Maureen S Durkin & Matthew J Maenner & F John Meaney & Susan E Levy & Carolyn DiGuiseppi & Joyce S Nicholas & Russell S Kirby & Jennifer A Pinto-Martin & Laura A Schieve, 2010. "Socioeconomic Inequality in the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from a U.S. Cross-Sectional Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(7), pages 1-8, July.
    4. Zhang, Saijun & Smith, Douglas C. & Tabb, Karen M., 2018. "Adolescent depression and the use of services and psychotropic medications in relation to family structure and race/ethnicity," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 636-643.
    5. Mehta, Neil K. & Lee, Hedwig & Ylitalo, Kelly R., 2013. "Child health in the United States: Recent trends in racial/ethnic disparities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 6-15.
    6. Cheslack-Postava, Keely & Jordan-Young, Rebecca M., 2012. "Autism spectrum disorders: Toward a gendered embodiment model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(11), pages 1667-1674.
    7. Dominique H. Como & Lucía I. Floríndez-Cox & Leah I. Stein Duker & Sharon A. Cermak, 2022. "Oral Health Barriers for African American Caregivers of Autistic Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Dababnah, Sarah & Parish, Susan L. & Turner Brown, Lauren & Hooper, Stephen R., 2011. "Early screening for autism spectrum disorders: A primer for social work practice," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 265-273, February.
    9. Angell, Amber M. & Solomon, Olga, 2014. "The social life of health records: Understanding families' experiences of autism," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 50-57.
    10. Solomon, Olga & Lawlor, Mary C., 2013. "“And I look down and he is gone”: Narrating autism, elopement and wandering in Los Angeles," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 106-114.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2007.131243_7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.