White children with autism appear to be receiving more medical care than black or Hispanic children who have the disorder, according to new research.
For the study, which was published June 17 in Pediatrics, researchers tracked more than 3,600 kids with autism. They discovered "striking differences" in the amount of medical visits to specialists such as neurologists and gastroenterologists that fell along racial lines.
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Autism spectrum disorders refer to developmental disabilities that range in severity causing social, communication and behavioral challenges. Recent government statistics estimate one in 50 U.S. schoolchildren has an autism spectrum disorder, or about 1 million kids.
Previous research has shown that children with an autism spectrum disorder are at increased risk for other conditions including seizure disorders (epilepsy), sleep problems, ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and gastrointestinal complications like abdominal pain or constipation. What's more, their parents may not realize there's a problem, according to the new study's authors, putting the child at risk for further complications.
"It's compounded a bit because these kids often can't communicate very well," explained study author Dr. James Perrin, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and a pediatrician at MassGeneral Hospital of Children, to CBSNews.com.
Perrin and colleagues took a close look at 3,615 kids with an autism spectrum disorder who were seen at Massachusetts General Hospital and of them, found 1,557 visited a specialist for treatment.
The researchers calculated that nearly 37 percent of white children with autism saw a specialist, compared to less than 30 percent of black children.
Most striking, the researchers found, was almost 14 percent of white children saw a gastroenterologist, compared to 9 percent of black children and about 10 percent of Hispanic children.
Perrin pointed out that black and Hispanic children with autism were substantially less likely to get GI procedures like X-rays looking for obstructions than white children with the disorders.
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Minority children with autism less likely to get care for complications, says study