Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient care in the Thames Valley from 2019 to 2024: retrospective cohort study

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Lloyd-White, S., Borschmann, R., Rorke, A., Stark, E., & Combe, G. (2026). Demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic children and adolescents receiving psychiatric in-patient care in the Thames Valley from 2019 to 2024: retrospective cohort study. BJPsych Open, 12(4), e195-e195. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2026.12039

Publication date: 1 Jul 2026 Added to AutiHub: 25 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Samuel Lloyd-White
  2. Rohan Borschmann
  3. Alice Rorke
  4. Eloise Stark *
  5. Gillian Combe

Abstract

Background Many autistic adolescents receive in-patient psychiatric care from services that are ill-equipped to meet neurodivergent needs. However, the outcomes for autistic adolescents accessing in-patient care remain poorly understood. Aims To document the demographics and clinical outcomes of autistic adolescents referred to in-patient psychiatric services over a 5-year period and compare these with those of their allistic peers accessing the same services. Method We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving all adolescents (aged 12–17 years inclusive) referred for in-patient psychiatric care through the Thames Valley Provider Collaborative between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2024. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of referrals for autistic and allistic adolescents were collected and summarised from routine service data. Inferential statistics (including t -tests and chi-squared tests) were used to compare characteristics between the autistic and allistic groups. Results Autistic adolescents were more likely than their allistic peers to be referred in an emergency (24.6 v. 16.6%) and for risk management (53.7 v. 33.5%). Autistic adolescents without an eating disorder had longer average length of stay than their peers (146.1 v. 97.5 days) and were more likely to be discharged to more secure settings following admission (12.9 v. 7.7%). Emerging evidence from routine outcome measures suggests less positive progress during in-patient care and greater impairment among autistic adolescents at both admission and discharge. Conclusions There are important differences in outcomes from psychiatric in-patient admissions between autistic and allistic adolescents. Greater work is needed to understand these differences and the factors influencing treatment success for autistic adolescents.

Bibliography cited by this reference

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Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 01:01.

Cited references
38
With a DOI
21
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
17
3 / 38 (7.9%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
13 / 38 (34.2%)
References with detected author names
25 / 38 (65.8%)
Without detected author names
13
Without a structured title
11
Without a stable identifier
17
References with raw author names still to review
11
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
125
From DOI or external metadata
125
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
13
31 / 125 (24.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 94 / 125 (75.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
3 / 125 (2.4%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 3 / 31 (9.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 3 / 118 (2.5%).
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