Autism Reality Month: Persons with Autism Disorders Die 16 to 30 Years Sooner

People with autism die 16 years sooner on average than they otherwise would, and those whose autism is combined with intellectual disability die 30 years sooner.  Death comes earlier to autistic people, whatever the proximate cause. But epilepsy, which is diagnosed in 20-40% of autistic people, is a major cause of death, especially in those whose autism is severe and combined with learning difficulties. Among those who are autistic but with less severe symptoms, suicide is a common cause of death, especially among women. 

People with autism die 16 years earlier on average,says charity, Hawkes, Nigel. BMJ : British Medical Journal (Online); London352 (Mar 17, 2016)

April is considered Autism Awareness Month in much of the world with April 2 being recognized as Autism Awareness Day.  Typically Blue Lights shine from various government and public buildings around the world.  The general characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder may get mentioned and the successes of various individuals with an autism disorder or "condition" as some prefer to call it, are highlighted.  Very, very little is done to raise awareness of the challenges and harsh realities faced by many with autism disorders.  One of the harshest autism disorder reality is the dramatically shorter life expectancy of persons with autism spectrum disorders. In the past year a study by the autism charitable group Autistica in the UK did highlight  that harsh reality ... the dramatically shorter life expectancy of persons with autism disorders. ... shorter by decades for many with autism disorders.  

I don't expect anyone to rely on my interpretation or analysis of the Autistica study, based on Swedish data.   Instead I refer to the following excerpt from a summary of the study published in the British Medical Journal; People with autism die 16 years earlier on average,says charity. 

People with autism tend to die decades younger than the rest of the population, and more needs doing to understand the problem’s causes and to find potential solutions, says a new report from the charity Autistica. Autistica’s report,1 drawing on recently published research in Sweden, said that people with autism die 16 years sooner on average than they otherwise would, and those whose autism is combined with intellectual disability die 30 years sooner. 

Death comes earlier to autistic people, whatever the proximate cause. But epilepsy, which is diagnosed in 20-40% of autistic people, is a major cause of death, especially in those whose autism issevere and combined with learning difficulties. Among those who are autistic but with less severe symptoms, suicide is a common cause of death, especially among women. 

The Swedish study,2 produced by a team from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, found that, among high functioning people with autism spectrum disorder, suicide was nearly 10 times more common a cause of death than in matching controls. A breakdown by sex, which included high and low functioning people, showed that autistic women were 13 times more likely to take their lives as other women, and men were six times more likely. 

At a briefing at the Science Media Centre in London, Patrick Bolton, professor in child and adolescent neuropsychiatry at King’s College, London, said that no similar data existed in the United Kingdom but that, if such data did exist, they would broadly match the Swedish data, which were drawn from a national patient register matched against death records. 

Jon Spiers, chief executive of Autistica, said that no single issue could explain the raised death rates. “The evidence base is so small, and we don’t understand the biological mechanisms properly,” he said. “We also know little about how autistic adults interact with the healthcare system.” 

The Swedish study looked at causes of death and found raised rates in many categories, including cancer, congenital malformations, and the circulatory, respiratory, and digestive systems. But suicide was the only cause that was higher in high functioning than in low functioning autistic people. Spiers said, “The inequality in outcomes for autistic people is shameful. We cannot accept a situation where many autistic people will never see their 40th birthday. Everyone involved in supporting people on the autistic spectrum from the government right down to local care providers has a responsibility to step up and start saving lives as soon as possible.”