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By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. I just turned 36 — the average age when people like me die. Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. Shutterstock On March 21, , CNN published an article on a new study from the American Journal of Public Health that found the average life span of an autistic person is 36 years. At some point between that moment and now, I made a pair of promises to myself: 1. I had to make it to So what do I want you to do about it?
And then act like it. Next Up In First Person. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Previous studies had shown that 30 percent to 50 percent of people with ASD have considered suicide, according to a report issued last week by the nonprofit organization Autistica. In addition, bullying can be a daily occurrence for people with ASD. Anxiety and depression are common responses to such treatment.
Both of those mental health stresses are leading factors in suicide. The Swedish researchers also noted that epilepsy is common among people with ASD and the likelihood of developing it increases with age. The researchers estimated 20 to 40 percent of people with ASD also have epilepsy compared with 1 percent of the general population.
People with ASD and cognitive disabilities, the researchers added, are 40 times more likely than the general population to die prematurely from a neurological condition. In their report, Autistica officials recommended more research be done to establish the relationship between autism and epilepsy. The general population, according to the Autistica report, also tends to have better overall health than people with ASD. People with ASD may experience a variety of medical problems, such as gastrointestinal disorders.
However, one of the most common is heart disease. Bullying may lead to feelings of alienation. Other people with ASD may experience sensory overload and sensitivity to noise and bright light. Fournier said this daily burden of social awkwardness and physical ailments takes a toll mentally and physically. That, both women said, can lead to physical ailments, including heart disease, brain inflammation, strokes, and diabetes. The report has prompted autism activists to urge those in the medical community, as well as the general population, to change how they view and treat ASD.
Autistica officials have started a fundraising campaign to raise money for awareness, research, and treatment. At the same time their genetically identical siblings who did not experience such adverse physical events often did not develop autism. Recognising the physical problems in individuals with autism can be challenging. The paper explains the main reasons why and how to overcome them. One of the barriers to effective identification of physical issues in autism is that their expression can be atypical.
However, the largest roadblock to better recognition and treatment of health problems in autism, as identified by the authors of this paper, is the framework within which most healthcare professional operate, and how they view their patients with autism. In many cases a healthcare professional will erroneously believe that autism is solely a behavioural dysfunction. He or she will not be familiar or not even aware of the mountain of scientific data on the intrinsic connection between autism and physical health.
A considerable volume of scientific evidence points to the possibility of an underlying physical cause to such behaviours.
To avert diagnostic overshadowing, screening for physical conditions should be initiated when such behaviours are observed. As a result of the wrong paradigm in which they see their patients with autism, the healthcare professional will not be attuned to the high risk their patient faces and the physical strain they could be under.
This can happen even when the symptoms could be indicative of serious and potentially deadly medical issues. Finally, the authors recommend that in order to reduce morbidity and preventable death in autism it is of utmost importance to provide regular physical health checks and to maintain high level of clinical suspicion towards physical health problems in autism.
Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat. Autism Science and Research News. The new study is the first to identify the specific factors that forecast mortality in autism.
The researchers followed autistic people in the United States over a year period. They found that the 26 people who died during the study tended to have poor scores on measures of social ability or daily-living skills at the start of the study irrespective of age or health. The findings hint that strategies that help autistic people develop social and daily living skills might also help them live longer. But some experts say the new study is too small to draw firm conclusions. And the link between longevity and social or daily living skills may be indirect.
Mailick and her colleagues confirmed the autism diagnoses of the participants, who ranged from 10 to 52 years old at the start of the study; they diagnosed 70 percent of the participants with intellectual disability. The participants who died tended to be in poor health and died at age 39, on average.
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