59% Of Children With Autism Have Complex Medical Conditions

About 41% of children with medical complexity (CMC) also have autism. Among children with autism, about 59% are also CMC. In comparison, 2.6% of children without autism are CMC. The statistics are based on the 2021-2022 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH).

CMC with autism had higher median health care expenditures compared to other CMC, and compared to children with autism who are not CMC. Approximately 6% of the population expenditures were for CMC with autism.  The median annual expenditures were highest in CMC with autism ($5,510 per child), followed by CMC without autism ($3,842 . . .