Jan 12, 2021
MONDAY, Jan. 11, 2021 (HealthDay News) Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have an increased risk for substance use disorder (SUD), according to a study published online Jan. 4 in JAMA Pediatrics.
Jing-Syuan Huang, M.D., from the National Defense Medical Center in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues examined the risk for SUD in patients with ASD and its associations with comorbidities, psychotropic agents (PAs), and mortality in a retrospective cohort study of participants from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Overall, 6,599 individuals with ASD (mean age, 11.9 years) and 26,396 controls (mean age, 12.1 years) were enrolled.
The researchers found that compared with controls, the ASD group had significantly increased risks for SUD, alcohol use disorder (AUD), and drug use disorder (DUD), with adjusted hazard ratios of 2.33, 2.07, and 3.00, respectively, in a multivariable-adjusted analysis. In ASD subgroups with one PA and multiple PAs