Children with autism frequently present with complex mental health diagnoses and psychotropic medications are often a component of comprehensive biopsychosocial treatment plans for these conditions. The purpose of this study is to provide rates and patterns of psychotropic medication use, and predictors thereof, in children and youth with autism enrolled in Medicaid across the US. This study examined national Medicaid claims from 2008 to 2016 of all children and youth with autism ages 0–21 years enrolled in Medicaid. Psychotropic medication use was examined across several child and youth characteristics, including age, co-occurring mental health conditions, sex, and race and ethnicity. About half of children and youth with autism enrolled in Medicaid had at least one psychotropic prescription in a year, a number that decreased slightly across the study period due to decreases in the prescription of antipsychotics. As new medications for autism or co-occurring conditions are developed and deployed, and as the understanding of the characteristics of the population of children with autism evolves, studying rates of medication usage helps to understand utilization patterns and differences in access to quality care.

自闭症儿童经常出现复杂的心理健康诊断，精神药物通常是针对这些疾病的综合生物心理社会治疗计划的组成部分。本研究的目的是提供美国各地参加医疗补助的自闭症儿童和青少年的精神药物使用率和模式及其预测因素。本研究调查了 2008 年至 2016 年所有参加医疗补助的 0-21 岁自闭症儿童和青少年的国家医疗补助索赔情况。对精神药物的使用情况进行了检查，涵盖了儿童和青少年的几个特征，包括年龄、同时发生的心理健康状况、性别、种族和民族。大约一半参加医疗补助的自闭症儿童和青少年在一年内至少服用过一种精神药物处方，由于抗精神病药物处方的减少，这一数字在研究期间略有下降。随着治疗自闭症或并发疾病的新药物的开发和部署，以及对自闭症儿童群体特征的了解的不断发展，研究药物使用率有助于了解使用模式和获得优质护理的差异。