Abstract:
This pilot study was aimed to describe the cost of autism spectrum disorder at Yuwaprasart Waithayopathum hospital in social perspective. The costs of autism spectrum disorder was collected by randomly interviewing the caregivers and reviewing the medical records of autism spectrum disorder patients aged between 3 18 years old, prospectively for 3 years. The costs of autism spectrum disorder were reported into three components: direct medical, direct non-medical and indirect costs. The data were statistically analyzed by Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal Wallis test, independent t test and one way ANOVA. Total of 147 sampling results showed the average total costs of autism spectrum disorder per person of 313,624.11 baht per year. The highest costs were direct non-medical costs 245,374.82 baht per year (78.24%), followed by indirect costs 40,218.08 baht per year (12.82%) and direct medical costs 28,031.21 baht per year (8.94%). The rehabilitation cost was the highest among direct medical costs. From the study, direct non-medical costs were mostly counted on the household expenditures. Furthermore, direct medical costs and total cost were significantly different among groups of sex (p < 0.001 and p = 0.0281, respectively), and between groups of different diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (p < 0.001) .The results may provide some basic information for budgeting and strategic planning concern the care of autism spectrum disorder patent of Thailand in the future.