Reported health-condition history profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth care: an exploratory latent class analysis.

backgroundAdults presenting for autism-related clinical care often report a range of physical and mental health condition histories. This exploratory study examined whether reported conditions formed person-level profiles among adults with documented or self-reported autism seeking autism-affirming telehealth services.

methodsWe conducted a retrospective chart review of 640 adults receiving care from a United States-based telehealth organization. Latent class analysis used 30 binary indicators: 28 physical health condition endorsements and two psychiatric diagnostic indicators, anxiety and mood disorder. Supporting analyses included bivariate correlations, logistic regression, class comparisons, covariate analyses, and sensitivity analyses for rare indicators, overlapping indicators, physical-only class structure, and ADHD.

resultsThe retained three-class solution identified a Mental and Physical Health class (17.7%), a Mental Health Predominant class (56.3%), and a Minimal Reported Conditions class (26.1%). The Mental and Physical Health class showed high mood and anxiety endorsement alongside elevated multisystem physical concerns, including chronic pain, chronic fatigue, headaches, dizziness, numbness or tingling, irritable bowel symptoms, hormone-related problems, and bone or joint problems. The Mental Health Predominant class showed similarly high psychiatric endorsement but limited physical endorsement. The Minimal Reported Conditions class showed low endorsement across all indicators. Bivariate analyses showed strong clustering among neurological/autonomic, pain/fatigue, and musculoskeletal indicators, with smaller psychiatric-physical associations. Age, diagnostic documentation status, and ADHD history differed across classes, although documented and self-reported autism groups were represented across all three profiles. Sensitivity analyses supported the three-class structure after excluding rare or overlapping indicators; the physical-only analysis favored a two-class higher-versus-lower endorsement structure.

conclusionsReported health-condition histories in this clinical service sample were described by three person-level profiles, suggesting physical and mental health conditions may be partially dissociable rather than uniform. These exploratory profiles may inform more individualized care and future research on health variability among autistic adults. LIMITATIONS: Findings are provisional. Data came from checklist-based clinical intake records that were not independently validated, autism status was not confirmed by standardized assessment, and the treatment-seeking telehealth sample may not generalize to autistic adults with higher support needs or limited telehealth access.

trial registrationNot applicable; this is an exploratory descriptive study and not a health care intervention.