August 12, 2022
Community Shares:
- Researchers from Norway have discovered that children of foreign-born mothers have more than a seven times higher chance of developing autism than Norwegian children whose mothers were born within the country. This new study involved 142 children aged 2-6 years old with an autism diagnosis in Sør-Trøndelag in mid-Norway from 2016-2019. Information was collected on the age of onset of symptoms and diagnosis, primary diagnosis, ADOS-2 scores, and whether or not the child was born in Norway and whose mothers were not born in Norway. Results showed that children of mothers born outside of Norway had a 7.7 times higher risk of being diagnosed with autism than children of Norwegian-born mothers, with an annual incidence of 0.74 % and 0.10 %, respectively.
- Military.com reports that the Department of Defense (DoD) will extend its program that provides care for military dependents diagnosed with autism through 2028. The extension is part of an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of the Tricare Comprehensive Care Demonstration Program, which started in 2014. The program was set to sunset on Dec. 31, 2023, but received an extension to support further evaluation studies. The University of Rochester is currently conducting an extensive evaluation of the DoD’s Autism Care Program. Their early findings show that the average age of children enrolled in the program was 8 in 2020, and the average cost per participant is $24,569. Of the 16,610 enrolled, more than 3,700 children exceeded the annual $36,000 threshold for expenditures. Furthermore, services for 325 patients exceeded $100,000 per year.
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its first-ever Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) quality measure to promote consistent quality ratings within and across state Medicaid HCBS programs. The measure set provides insight into the quality of HCBS programs. It enables states to measure and improve health outcomes for individuals relying on long-term services and support (LTSS) in Medicaid.
- A new health article published in Insider.com lists signs of autism in adults that have not yet received an autism diagnosis. These signs include difficulty understanding what others are thinking and feeling, having very ritualized patterns of behavior and getting anxious if these rituals are interrupted, appearing blunt or rude without meaning to, not understanding social cues, difficulty making friends, having high levels of focus or interest in certain topics or activities, not knowing how to express themselves, and anxiety in social situations.
