Background

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social communication and interactions and includes limited and repetitive patterns of behavior (DSM 5). In France, national guidelines concerning practices recommend early and specific intervention but the care pathway is not well described for ASD children. The national health insurance information system records demographic data, medical conditions, and reimbursed drugs for over 98% of the French population. In addition, the ELENA cohort is a large cohort of children with ASD followed for six years. Data collected include the clinical characteristics of the children (IQ, severity of ASD, etc.) and their parents (educational level, professional status, etc.).

Objective

The first objective of this project is to identify the patterns of care trajectories using data from the ELENA cohort matched with data from the national health insurance information system. The secondary objectives are to examine the links between patterns of care trajectories and the clinical characteristics and social environment of autistic children and to estimate the costs of ASD care from the point of view of public health insurance.

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