Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient…

Cohort studyBJPsych open· Jul 2026

Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient care in the Thames Valley from 2019 to 2024: retrospective cohort study.

Samuel Lloyd-White, Rohan Borschmann, Alice Rorke … Gillian Combe

Child & AdolescentCohort studyPrognosisQ1IF 3.5

Autistic adolescents without eating disorders had longer average psychiatric in-patient stays than peers.

Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient care in the Thames Valley from 2019 to 2024: retrospective cohort study.

Samuel Lloyd-White … Gillian Combe

BJPsych open · Jul 2026 · Q1 in Psychiatry

Background

Many autistic adolescents receive in-patient psychiatric care from services that are ill-equipped to meet neurodivergent needs.

Purpose

To document the demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic adolescents referred to in-patient psychiatric services over a 5-year period and compare these with those of their allistic peers accessing the same services.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving all adolescents (aged 12-17 years inclusive) referred for in-patient psychiatric care through the Thames Valley Provider Collaborative between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2024.

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Results

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autistic teens without eating disorders stayed longer than allistic peers

More results

Autistic adolescents were more likely than their allistic peers to be referred in an emergency (24.6 v .

Emerging evidence from routine outcome measures suggests less positive progress during in-patient care and greater impairment among autistic adolescents at both admission and discharge.

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

There are important differences in outcomes from psychiatric in-patient admissions between autistic and allistic adolescents.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Greater work is needed to understand these differences and the factors influencing treatment success for autistic adolescents.

Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient care in the Thames Valley from 2019 to 2024: retrospective cohort study.

Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient care in the Thames Valley from 2019 to 2024: retrospective cohort study.

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