A cost of illness study of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders and comorbid anxiety disorders as compared to clinically anxious and typically developing children.
Autism plus anxiety quadruples the yearly price tag, so treating anxiety is both a clinical and economic must.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked at one-year bills for three groups of children.
Group one: high-functioning autism plus anxiety.
Group two: anxiety only.
Group three: kids with no diagnoses.
They added up medical, school, and family costs for each child.
What they found
The autism-plus-anxiety group cost about €17,380 per child each year.
That is four times the cost of anxious-only kids.
It is 27 times the cost of typically developing peers.
Most of the extra money went to special education and parents’ lost wages.
How this fits with other research
Reyer et al. (2006) saw the same jump in the United States.
They found medical costs seven times higher for kids with autism.
The new study adds anxiety on top and shows the price climbs even more.
Diemer et al. (2023) tracked Canadian kids for ten years.
Their costs rose each year, matching the steep European numbers.
Bush et al. (2021) gives a lower U.S. figure of about $4–5k per year.
That study counted only doctor bills, not school or parent pay.
The gap looks like a contradiction, but it is just a narrower lens.
Why it matters
When you write treatment plans, list anxiety as a cost driver.
Ask the funding team for extra hours for CBT or group social skills.
Track parent training time as a money saver, not an add-on.
Use these numbers to justify Saturday social groups or home visits.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The study's aim was to estimate the societal costs of children with high-functioning ASD and comorbid anxiety disorder(s) (ASD + AD-group; n = 73), and to compare these costs to children with anxiety disorders (AD-group; n = 34), and typically developing children (controls; n = 87). Mean total costs for the ASD + AD-group amounted <euro>17,380 per year. Societal costs were estimated at almost 142 million euro per year. Costs in the ASD + AD-group were four times higher compared to the AD-group, and 27 times higher compared to controls. ASD-related costs were higher in the ASD + AD-group; anxiety-related costs did not differ between the ASD + AD- and AD-group; costs due to physical or other reasons did not differ across groups. The findings suggest that costs can be decreased if effective treatment options for treating anxiety in ASD are established, however, the remaining costs associated with ASD would still be large. A limitation of the study is that a group of children with ASD without anxiety disorders is lacking.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2013 · doi:10.1007/s10803-013-1835-6