Preventable injuries often lead to death among people with autism, a new study says. They are three times more likely than the general population to die because of injuries, according to the study, published Tuesday in the American Journal of Public Health.
For children and young teens with this developmental disability, the numbers are more striking: They are 40 times more likely to die from injury than the general child population, researchers said.
Drowning is the most common fatal injury among children with autism.
People diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, which causes challenges with social skills and communication, die at an average age of just 36, noted the researchers. For the general population, life expectancy is 72.
Two motives drove Dr. Guohua Li, senior author of the study and founding director of the Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University, to research the relationship between autism and injury.
“First, the prevalence of autism has been increasing,” Li said, noting that there are an estimated 3.5 million people living with autism in the US, including about 500,000 children under the age of 15.
“Second, there is anecdotal evidence that people with autism are at higher risk of injury.”
Actual research to provide hard evidence, though, has been difficult to find.
