A British charity has warned that people with autism are dying earlier than the general population. The most common causes of death for those on autism spectrum disorders are suicide and epilepsy.
The charity Autistica is citing recent research carried out by a team of scientists in Sweden, according to BBC News. The charity called to action in order to deal with this problem called as an "enormous hidden crisis". They want to raise now £10m necessary for more research on the autism spectrum disorders.
The study performed by the research team in Sweden has been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. According to its findings, autistic people die on average 16 years early.
In the United Kingdom alone around 700,000 people representing 1 percent of the entire population have autism. The condition causes difficulties in how these people relate and communicate with others. Over the last few years, cases of autism have also been growing in the United States, being present now in one in every 68 U.S. children.
According to NH Voice, the research has been conducted by Sweden's Karolinska Institute. The analysis has linked a much shorter lifespan with neurodevelopmental disorder autism. The findings also raise an alarm on the high risk of suicide among individuals suffering from autism. The study has found that, compared to normal age for other individuals, people with autism spectrum disorders die at a young age, some 12 to 30 years earlier.
By examining mortality trends among autistic individuals, the research team has found that major cause of death in adults who have autism is suicide rather than diseases. In order to conduct their study, the researchers collected data on more than 27,000 autistic adults and more than 2.5 million adults who don't have the diagnosis. The collected data used in the study comes from Sweden's national registries.
As per the study, people with autism die, in average, 18 years younger than others. Those with intellectual impairment died just 12 years earlier, while those with a learning disability and autism died about 30 years earlier. Both males and females have shown similar mortality trends. However, the highest risk of premature death among any of the subgroups was found among autistic females.
