Inpatient treatment and rehabilitation of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders: retrospective chart review

The goals of treatment and rehabilitation of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are to increase functional independence and quality of life through learning and development, improved communication, and social skills. The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of use of pharmacological treatment and psychosocial rehabilitation in children and adolescents with ASD in Latvia. A retrospective study based on analysis of data on inpatient medical records. This study includes patients with a diagnosis of ASD (ICD-10, F84*) that received inpatient psychiatric care in Children’s Clinical University Hospital in the period from January 2015 to December 2019. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0. The study included 316 inpatient admissions, 214 of them were first admissions. 80% of ASD patients were boys. Mean age 6,5 (SD-4,0). Mean duration of hospital stay was 6,7 (SD-4,6) days. The most frequent clinical diagnosis was Childhood autism (F84.0)(81,6%). The most frequent comorbidity was Specific speech and language development disorders (F80*), which was diagnosed in 227 (71,8%) cases. From these 316 cases 206 (65,2%) received only psychosocial rehabilitation, 24 (7,6%) received only pharmacological treatment and 76 (24,1%) received a combination of pharmacological treatment and rehabilitation. The most frequently used rehabilitation methods were speech and language therapy - 225 (71,2%) and occupational therapy -174 (55,1%). The most frequently used pharmacological treatments were Atypical antipsychotics: Risperidone - 36 (47,3%) and Quetiapine - 14 (18,4%). Patients that received only pharmacological therapy were more likely to be re-hospitalized. Various psychosocial rehabilitation methods are used in the inpatient care of ASD patients in Children’s Clinical University Hospital, with the majority of patients receiving a combination of several non-pharmacological interventions, and only a minority requiring pharmacological interventions for symptom management. Psychosocial rehabilitation should be made more available to patients with ASD also in the outpatient care settings.