- Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Department of Primary and Community Care, Gender and Women’s Health, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Geert Groteplein 21, Internal number 117, P.O. Box 9101, 6500 HB, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
It takes considerable time before Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed. Validated diagnostic instruments are available, but not applicable to primary healthcare. By means of a case–control study we investigated whether there were differences in presented complaints and referral patterns between children with ASD (n = 49) and a control group of children without ASD (n = 81). Children with ASD were often presented as crybabies and often showed feeding problems. They visited the GP’s surgery more often with anxiety disorders, enuresis, and sleeping disorders. They were referred more often to physiotherapists and speech-therapists and had tympanostomy tubes and tonsillectomies more often. Depression in the parents of children with ASD was remarkably prevalent.
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Detecting
- General practitioner
- Presented complaints
- Referral patterns