The Economic Impact of Autism in Britain

Little is known about the economic impact of autism. This study estimated the economic consequences of autism in the United Kingdom, based on published evidence and on the reanalysis of data holdings at the Centre for the Economics of Mental Health (CEMH). With an assumed prevalence of 5 per 10,000, the annual societal cost for the UK was estimated to exceed £1 billion. The lifetime cost for a person with autism exceeded £2.4 million. The main costs were for living support and day activities. Family costs account for only 2.3 percent of the total cost, but a lack of relevant information limited our ability to estimate these costs. Minor improvements in life outcome for people with autism could substantially reduce costs over the lifetime.

[1]  M. Lindhardt.  [Follow-up studies]. , 1951, Ugeskrift for laeger.

[2]  C. Lord,et al.  A follow-up study of high-functioning autistic children. , 1992, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[3]  Patricia Howlin,et al.  Autism: Preparing for Adulthood , 1996 .

[4]  C. Gillberg.  Outcome in autism and autistic-like conditions. , 1991, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[5]  B. Goldberg,et al.  Autistic Children Grow Up: An Eight to Twenty-Four Year Follow-Up Study , 1986, Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie.

[6]  T. Kastner,et al.  Characteristics of hospitalizations for people with developmental disabilities: utilization, costs, and impact of care coordination. , 1997, American journal of mental retardation : AJMR.

[7]  M. Janicki,et al.  Variations in characteristics and service needs of persons with autism , 1983, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[8]  Sharafat Hussain,et al.  Use of Drugs in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 1995, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[9]  K. Smith,et al.  Costs of mental illness in Britain. , 1996, Health policy.

[10]  P Howlin,et al.  Autism and developmental receptive language disorder--a follow-up comparison in early adult life. II: Social, behavioural, and psychiatric outcomes. , 2000, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[11]  C. Lord,et al.  Outcome and Follow-Up Studies of High-Functioning Autistic Individuals , 1992 .

[12]  Martin Knapp,et al.  Costing psychiatric interventions. , 1992 .

[13]  C. Gillberg,et al.  Autism: not an extremely rare disorder , 1999, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica.

[14]  S. E. Mouridsen,et al.  Mortality and Causes of Death in Pervasive Developmental Disorders , 1999 .

[15]  M. Knapp.  Economic Evaluation of Mental Health Care , 2001 .

[16]  M. Rutter,et al.  Autism , 1978, Springer US.

[17]  Disciplinary Committee,et al.  Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain , 2002 .

[18]  M. Aman,et al.  Psychotropic and anticonvulsant drugs in subjects with autism: prevalence and patterns of use. , 1995, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[19]  F. Gresham,et al.  Early Intervention Project: Can Its Claims Be Substantiated and Its Effects Replicated? , 1998, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[20]  C. Brewin,et al.  Measuring mental health needs , 1992 .

[21]  M. Rutter,et al.  Autism and developmental receptive language disorder--a comparative follow-up in early adult life. I: Cognitive and language outcomes. , 2000, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[22]  Eric Schopler,et al.  High-Functioning Individuals with Autism , 1992 .

[23]  F. Volkmar,et al.  Higher-functioning pervasive developmental disorders: rates and patterns of psychotropic drug use. , 1999, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[24]  J. Rumsey,et al.  Autistic children as adults: psychiatric, social, and behavioral outcomes. , 1985, Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry.

[25]  Employment,et al.  Statistics of education : schools in England , 1995 .

[26]  Gina Green,et al.  Cost–benefit estimates for early intensive behavioral intervention for young children with autism—general model and single state case , 1998 .

[27]  J. Sverd,et al.  Prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder in a sample of psychiatrically hospitalized children and adolescents , 1994, Child psychiatry and human development.

[28]  L. Mawhood,et al.  The Outcome of a Supported Employment Scheme for High-Functioning Adults with Autism or Asperger Syndrome , 1999 .

[29]  S. Rogers,et al.  Brief report: Early intervention in autism , 1996, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.

[30]  A. Birenbaum,et al.  On the importance of helping families: policy implications from a national study. , 1993, Mental Retardation.

[31]  R. Kobayashi,et al.  A follow-up study of 201 children with autism in Kyushu and Yamaguchi areas, Japan , 1992, Journal of autism and developmental disorders.