Persons with ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorders) have the same health care needs as persons without disabilities and should benefit from the same health care and disease prevention activities within the general health facilities. Medical problems can worsen the behaviour of persons with ASD, mainly of those who are not able to communicate pain or other feelings. Therefore, ensuring a careful follow-up of their general health conditions is crucial in order to avoid more suffering, deterioration of health conditions and unsuitable (and needless) intervention.
It is important that health care providers and policy makers acknowledge that many people with ASD have special needs which may require modification of standard health care practices and service models in order to cope with the peculiar difficulties of persons with ASD. Detecting warning signs and treating health problems in persons with ASD can be difficult, because of the social and communication impairments, the frequently associated sensory abnormalities, the adaptive difficulties, the challenging behaviours, as well as fear and anxiety that physical assessment, diagnostic imaging, and a variety of other interventions may induce in people with ASD. Reasonable adjustments of the health care and individual skilled support during hospitalisation or day care should be provided.
In addition, persons with ASD may have unique health care needs that relate to other frequently associated conditions (eg, Angelman syndrome, fragile X syndrome, tuberous sclerosis, epilepsy). Health-care systems can play a significant role in fostering the best development of individual potential and in improving the quality of life of persons with ASD and their families by acting immediately on parental concerns, monitoring behaviour and development, referring promptly for a comprehensive evaluation, searching for etiologic and comorbid conditions, expediting enrolment and implementation of appropriate intervention strategies, managing medical issues, and coordinating care among various service delivery systems.
