A Scoping Review of Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Primary Care

Abstract

Introduction: This scoping review was performed to collect, examine, and present literature on interventions promoting the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in U.S. primary health care settings.

Method: The literature searched was from 2011-2022, in the English language, in PubMed, CINAHL, Psych INFO, Cochrane, and Web of Science, for persons with autism or ASD aged ≤ 18 years.

Results: Six studies met the search criteria, including a quality improvement project, a feasibility study, a pilot study, and three primary care provider (PCP) intervention trials. Measured outcomes included: accuracy of diagnosis (n = 4), practice change maintenance (n = 3), time to diagnosis (n = 2), specialty clinic appointment wait time (n = 1), PCP comfort making ASD diagnosis (n = 1), and increased ASD diagnosis (n = 1).

Discussion: Results inform future implementation of PCP ASD diagnosis for the most obvious cases of ASD and research evaluating PCP training, using longitudinal measures of PCP knowledge of ASD and intention to diagnose.

Keywords: Autism; autism spectrum disorder; primary care diagnosis; primary care providers; scoping review.