Teenagers and young adults with severe autism are spending weeks or even months in emergency rooms and acute-care hospitals.
While the data on extended hospital stays are limited, national numbers on people with an autism diagnosis who were seen in hospital ERs nearly doubled over five years to 159,517 in 2014, according to the latest figures from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
The total admitted for a behavioral or medical issues also nearly doubled, to 26,811 in 2014.