Logo image
Back
COVID-19 risk: Adult Medicaid beneficiaries with autism, intellectual disability, and mental health conditions
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

COVID-19 risk: Adult Medicaid beneficiaries with autism, intellectual disability, and mental health conditions

Whitney Schott, Sha Tao and Lindsay Shea
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, v 26(4), pp 975-987
May 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613211039662
PMID: 34420427
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8859009View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Adult Autism Spectrum Disorder - epidemiology Autistic Disorder - epidemiology COVID-19 - epidemiology Humans Intellectual Disability - epidemiology Medicaid Mental Health United States - epidemiology
Autistic adults, adults with intellectual disability, and adults with other mental health conditions may have higher risk of contracting COVID-19 or experiencing more severe illness from COVID-19 if infected. We used data from Medicaid to look at whether autistic adults and other adults with intellectual disability and other mental health conditions were more likely to have risk factors for COVID-19, such as living in a residential facility, receiving services regularly in the home from outside caregivers, having had a long hospitalization, having had avoidable hospitalizations, and having high-risk health conditions. We found that autistic adults had higher odds of living in a residential facility, receiving in-home services from outside caregivers, having had an avoidable hospitalization, and having a high-risk health condition, compared to neurotypical adults without mental health conditions. Adults with intellectual disability had similar odds of having these conditions. Adults with other mental health conditions were also more likely to live in a residential facility, receive services from outside caregivers, and have had avoidable hospitalizations compared to the neurotypical population without mental health conditions. They had three times higher odds of having a high-risk health condition. High risk of COVID-19 among autistic adults and adults with intellectual disability and mental health conditions should be recognized by clinicians, and these groups should be prioritized for vaccine outreach.

Metrics

6 Record Views
31 citations in Web of Science
28 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Psychology, Developmental
Logo image