Leiden University Scholarly Publications

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Warreman, E.B. (2024)

Improving the health of adults with autism and their caregivers

Doctoral Thesis
This dissertation is a call to place the health of adults with autistic traits and autism-caregivers higher on the agenda of clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and autistic adults and autism-caregivers themselves. Primarily, clinicians should be educated about the increased health risks in autistic adults and autism-caregivers, in order to be able to prevent or recognize these comorbidities timely. This is relevant because of the higher prevalence of both metabolic syndrome and gastrointestinal symptoms in adults from the general population with higher levels of autistic traits, as shown in this dissertation. The associations we found between biopsychosocial factors and respectively metabolic syndrome and gastrointestinal symptoms ask for more psychiatric and somatic integrated care for autistic adults. Future research could use the associations we found between the biopsychosocial model and autistic traits to develop preventive interventions specifically targeted for adults...Show moreThis dissertation is a call to place the health of adults with autistic traits and autism-caregivers higher on the agenda of clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and autistic adults and autism-caregivers themselves. Primarily, clinicians should be educated about the increased health risks in autistic adults and autism-caregivers, in order to be able to prevent or recognize these comorbidities timely. This is relevant because of the higher prevalence of both metabolic syndrome and gastrointestinal symptoms in adults from the general population with higher levels of autistic traits, as shown in this dissertation. The associations we found between biopsychosocial factors and respectively metabolic syndrome and gastrointestinal symptoms ask for more psychiatric and somatic integrated care for autistic adults. Future research could use the associations we found between the biopsychosocial model and autistic traits to develop preventive interventions specifically targeted for adults with autism (or higher levels of autistic traits). To make sure future preventive measures and the treatment of physical health problems are effective for this target population to improve their health, barriers in the healthcare for autistic people should be reduced. Therefore, this dissertation also offers recommendations for improvement of primary care, the gatekeeper of adequate healthcare for autistic adults.
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Autism spectrum disorder
Cardiovascular risk
Gastrointestinal
Primary care
Caregivers
Health
Biopsychosocial model
All authors
Warreman, E.B.
Supervisor
Vermeiren, R.R.J.M.
Co-supervisor
Ester, W.A.; Nooteboom, L.A.
Committee
Hemert, A.M. van; Numans, M.E.; Staal, W.G.; Cahn, W.
Qualification
Doctor (dr.)
Awarding Institution
Faculty of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), Leiden University
Date
2024-06-26

Funding

Sponsorship
Studies in this thesis were funded by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), project number Academische Werkplaats Autisme 639003101