Autism Prevalence, Co-occurring Intellectual Disability, and Support Needs Differ for Somali and Hmong Communities in Minnesota

Purpose: Previous research has documented disparities in autism prevalence and the co-occurrence of intellectual disability (ID) with autism for children from immigrant communities. The current study compared autism prevalence and co-occurrence of ID in 8-year-olds across racial/ethnic groups using data from the Minnesota site of the CDC Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, with a focus on two large racial/ethnic groups: Somali and Hmong. Methods: Systematic review of health and educational records was performed within a defined geographic area, and data were combined from 2014 to 2016 surveillance years to obtain adequate sample sizes to compare prevalence and co-occurrence of ID across race/ethnicity. Results: Somali children had a higher autism prevalence compared to Hispanic, Hmong, and non-Hmong Asian children, with prevalence ratios (PR) of 1.8, 2.1, and 2.1, respectively. Hmong children had a significantly lower autism prevalence compared to White (PR 0.6) and non-Somali Black (PR 0.7) children. Significant differences in co-occurring ID status were found by race/ethnicity. Conclusion: Identifying subgroups of children with higher prevalence of autism or greater co-occurring ID can inform public health policy and improve outcomes for individuals with autism and their families. Differences in prevalence and co-occurring ID by race/ethnicity may suggest barriers to service utilization.