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Autistic Lives Cut Short: Study Reveals Stark Reality
14 Sep
Summary
- Autistic Medicaid beneficiaries have a life expectancy of about 65 years.
- This is nearly 14 years shorter than the U.S. general population.
- Higher mortality from influenza, malnutrition, and accidents cited.
New research indicates that autistic individuals enrolled in Medicaid have a life expectancy of roughly 65 years, a stark 14-year deficit compared to the general U.S. population. This disparity is not directly caused by autism but is linked to increased risks across a spectrum of health issues and causes of death.
Key contributing factors include significantly higher mortality rates from influenza, malnutrition, pneumonia, respiratory illnesses, and neurological disorders. Accidental drownings and other non-transport accidents also present a substantially elevated risk. Experts suggest that improved access to preventative care, better inter-provider collaboration, and adequate support for feeding issues could mitigate these risks.
The study, which analyzed over 2 million autistic Medicaid beneficiaries between 2000 and 2020, also noted that autistic women experienced a larger life expectancy gap compared to their non-autistic female counterparts. Encouragingly, life expectancy for autistic Medicaid beneficiaries did improve by 1.7 years between the early 2000s and 2015-2019, though the COVID-19 pandemic reversed some of these gains.
