Autism is a common comorbid diagnosis in those with epilepsy. Understanding the health needs and outcomes in patients with this dual diagnosis is important for optimizing healthcare outcomes. We compared hospital-level variables amongst patients with co-occurring autism and epilepsy, to those with epilepsy alone. Non-elective hospital admissions amongst patients with epilepsy alone and co-occurring autism and epilepsy were identified in the 2003–14 National Inpatient Sample (NIS) using previously validated ICD-9-CM case definitions. One patient with co-occurring epilepsy and autism was matched to three epilepsy patients for age and sex. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to examine outcomes of interest. Compared to those with epilepsy alone (n = 27,762), patients with autism and epilepsy (n = 9254) had a higher odds of transfer to another facility (OR = 1.09, p = 0.048), in-hospital mortality (OR = 1.36, p = 0.011), longer mean length of stay (5.63 days vs. 5.12 days, p < 0.0001), and septicemia (4.21 % vs. 3.08 %, p < 0.0001). Distributions of demographics, insurance type, socioeconomic status, and comorbidities significantly differed between both groups. Our findings demonstrate that patients with comorbid autism and epilepsy are a unique population with health outcomes significantly differing from those with epilepsy alone. Given the effect that dual diagnosis has on hospital trajectory, focused treatment plans must be adopted to optimize care and hospital outcomes in these patients.

中文翻译：

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自闭症和癫痫患者的住院结果——一项基于人群的研究


自闭症是癫痫患者常见的合并症。了解患有这种双重诊断的患者的健康需求和结果对于优化医疗保健结果非常重要。我们比较了同时患有自闭症和癫痫症的患者与单独患有癫痫症的患者的医院水平变量。使用先前验证的 ICD-9-CM 病例定义，在 2003-14 年国家住院患者样本 (NIS) 中确定了单独患有癫痫和同时患有自闭症和癫痫的患者的非选择性入院。一名同时患有癫痫和自闭症的患者与三名癫痫患者的年龄和性别相匹配。进行多项逻辑回归来检查感兴趣的结果。与仅患有癫痫的患者 (n = 27,762) 相比，患有自闭症和癫痫的患者 (n = 9254) 转移到其他机构的几率更高 (OR = 1.09，p = 0.048)，院内死亡率 (OR = 1.36， p = 0.011）、更长的平均住院时间（5.63 天 vs. 5.12 天，p < 0.0001）和败血症（4.21 % vs. 3.08 %，p < 0.0001）。两组之间的人口统计数据、保险类型、社会经济地位和合并症的分布存在显着差异。我们的研究结果表明，患有自闭症和癫痫的患者是一个独特的人群，其健康结果与单独患有癫痫的患者显着不同。鉴于双重诊断对医院轨迹的影响，必须采取有针对性的治疗计划来优化这些患者的护理和医院结果。