Brief Report: Factors Associated with Emergency Department Visits for Epilepsy Among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Zhang et al. (2018) looked at emergency room trips for seizures in kids with autism. They checked charts to see who came in, how old they were, and what else was going on.

Most visits happened to teens aged 13-17. Kids who also had mental health diagnoses showed up less often for seizures. Many visits included an injury at the same time.

Goris et al. (2021) saw the same age spike but for any ER trip, not just seizures. Their wider view confirms teens with autism use the ER more overall.

Amaral et al. (2019) found the opposite pattern for psychiatric ER visits: autistic teens poured in for mental health crises. Together the papers show the ER door swings for two different groups—seizure teens and psychiatric teens.

Iannuzzi et al. (2022) added that autistic teens are admitted to the hospital 3.7 times more than peers, often for preventable problems. The seizure-injury combo in Wanqing et al. is one clear example.

If you serve autistic teens, add seizure first-aid and injury-prevention to your parent training. Check for epilepsy in your safety plans, and remind caregivers when to call 911 versus when to call the neurologist. A quick seizure action sheet can cut ER wait times and keep kids safer at home.