Understanding Suicide Risk and Patient Portal Use in Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Individuals with ASD are at higher risk for suicide than individuals without ASD. Currently, we are not doing a particularly good job of identifying patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at risk for suicide. The goal of these projects was to identify suicide risk in patients with ASD using existing automatically collected electronic health record (EHR) data with the goal of better connecting patients to needed care. We hoped to achieve this goal by validating an existing EHR-based suicide readmission model (Vanderbilt Suicide Attempt and Ideation=VSAIL) and characterizing the communication of suicidality in the My Health at Vanderbilt (MHAV) patient portal.