AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER IN ITALY: DEMAND FOR AN INTEGRATED EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental syndrome of emerging public health concern, according to a documented significant increase of diagnosed cases of ASD in Europe and USA. In Italy, actually, it is not possible to estimate at national level a reliable ASD occurrence by...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Associazione Italiana Giovani Medici
2015-04-01
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| Series: | Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal |
| Online Access: | http://www.embj.org/images/ISSUE_2015/Mazzucco_23.pdf |
| Summary: | Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental syndrome of
emerging public health concern, according to a documented significant increase of diagnosed
cases of ASD in Europe and USA.
In Italy, actually, it is not possible to estimate at national level a reliable ASD occurrence
by using existing health and scholastic data flows. The lack of information has
implications on social and healthcare services dedicated to subjects affected by ADS.
The database of the Italian institute in charge of social and security assistance was
accessed at the provincial level to investigate the ASD cases occurred in the Palermo
province. The official reports of all subjects visited in 2013 by INPS physicians were
analyzed by using an automatic software and diagnosis consistent with ASD were extracted
and flagged.
Our findings support the choice of alternative use of INPS administrative database in
order to define a reliable ASD occurrence estimate as first step to develop an integrated
epidemiological surveillance system on ASD. |
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| ISSN: | 2279-7165 2279-7165 |