The Daily Mail has reported that“People with autism are dying decades earlier than the general public, a charity has warned…
The Swedish study, in the British Journal of Psychiatry, suggested autistic people die on average 16 years early – with suicide and epilepsy the most common causes of premature death.
The charity Autistica is now trying to raise £10m for more research into why the condition was affecting life expectancy.
The research found people with autism and a learning disability were dying more than 30 years prematurely, at an average age of just 39.
Even those who are not held back intellectually by the condition still die an average 12 years early, researchers said.
And ‘high-functioning’ individuals – with good speech and language skills – still had double the normal risk of dying young.
Researchers said bullying, social issues and side effects from medication could be contributing factors.
Autistica’s chief executive Jon Spiers said: ‘This new research confirms the true scale of the hidden mortality crisis in autism
‘The inequality in outcomes for autistic people shown in this data is shameful. We cannot accept a situation where many autistic people will never see their 40th birthday.’
Speaking at a briefing in London, he added: ‘We aim to raise £10 million in the next five years to fund a major new programme of research in the UK looking at mortality in autism.
‘That for us is a very significant sum of money – it’s more than we’ve raised in our entire history as a research charity.
‘But we believe there is a moral imperative to act and to understand better why people with autism are dying so young.’
Autism is a lifelong disability affecting around one per cent of the population. It impairs a person’s ability to communicate with and relate to other people.
As a ‘spectrum’ condition, it impacts on people in different ways and has symptoms that range from mild to very severe.
A quarter of sufferers speak few or no words, only 15 per cent will ever work full time, and almost 75 per cent have at least one associated mental health condition.
Autism is estimated to cost the UK £32 billion per year, making it the single most expensive medical condition.
Most of the cost is due to the need for life-long care.
The Swedish study led by Dr Tatja Hirvikoski, of the Karolinska Institute, was published in November last year.
Epilepsy and suicide emerged as two leading causes of premature death among autistic people.
Between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of autism sufferers were afflicted by epilepsy compared with one per cent of the general population.
And those without a learning disability had a nine times higher than average risk of killing themselves.
However, experts still have no clear idea why so many people with epilepsy die young.
Autistica has launched a campaign calling for more research collaboration to tackle the issue of premature death among autistic adults, and a national autism mortality review from the Government.
A petition backing the review demand will be delivered to Downing Street later in the spring.
Mark Lever, chief executive of the National Autistic Society, said: ‘While this report is based on Swedish research, we have no reason to believe the situation would be that different here.
‘Indeed, we fear it could be worse.
‘The Government and national health authorities must urgently investigate what’s going on in this country and start to put things right.’ “
For more information go to the Daily Mail
Written by Rachel Harrison, speech and language therapist, on behalf of Integrated Treatment Services.
