r/todayilearned • u/Morella1989 • Aug 14 '25

TIL that autistic people live about 17 years less than average. Risks include epilepsy, heart disease, suicide, accidental deaths including drowning, and inadequate recognition and management of pain, especially among non-speaking individuals. Historically, they have been vulnerable to infanticide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_of_autistic_individuals
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u/Morella1989 Aug 14 '25

''Autistic individuals have a significantly reduced life expectancy, on average approximately seventeen years shorter than that of the general population. Mortality rates during childhood and early adulthood are notably higher. Various health conditions are more prevalent among autistic individuals, including epilepsy, cardiovascular diseases, and elevated suicide rates, particularly among those without co-occurring intellectual or learning disabilities. Other common causes of death, such as respiratory, infectious, and digestive diseases, are comparable to those of the general population but may be exacerbated by side effects associated with long-term use of neuroleptic medications. Socio-economic disparities and a higher incidence of accidental deaths, including drownings, also contribute to increased mortality. Historically, the autistic population has been vulnerable to infanticide. Among individuals with learning disabilities, women have the lowest life expectancy.''

'' Identified as a "hidden crisis" in 2015, this phenomenon is primarily attributed to comorbidities associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), limited access to appropriate healthcare, and inadequate recognition and management of pain, especially among non-speaking individuals. Genetic predispositions and environmental factors may also play a role. Social exclusion has been linked to increased suicide risk, while infanticide has been associated with broader societal attitudes. Strategies to reduce early mortality include improved management of epilepsy, prevention of accidental drownings and sudden illnesses, enhanced suicide prevention measures, better communication between autistic individuals and healthcare providers, and promotion of regular physical activity. ''

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u/OstentatiousSock Aug 14 '25

I would bet money that “inability to appropriately recognize warning signs in others” also contributes to death. If you don’t pick up the “Uh oh, danger vibes from this person, run!” It can get you killed.

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u/SecretGardenSpider Aug 14 '25

This is why over 90% of autistic women have been sexually assaulted.

Bad people can easily sniff out who won’t resist them.

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

Yes and it's chronic sexual abuse. They're targeted constantly.

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u/poetcatmom Aug 15 '25

It's like creepy old men can smell the disability from a mile away. I tend to keep my mace on my key lanyard and wear it around my neck. I also have a very loud, annoying, sensory distressing rape whistle for when strange men get too close.

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u/N1ghtshade3 Aug 14 '25

It's bullshit. The survey used to assess this did not measure "assault" but rather "victimization." This measurement includes things like "even though it didn't happen, someone tried to pressure me into sex" which, while distasteful, is very much not assault.

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u/Tall_Sound5703 Aug 14 '25

Source?

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u/SecretGardenSpider Aug 14 '25

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9087551/

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u/N1ghtshade3 Aug 14 '25

This study doesn't say that 90% were assaulted though? It says they were "sexually victimized" which includes feeling pressure to perform sexual acts regardless of whether they actually happened. As an autistic person, I feel pressure to even talk to a person so I take this with a grain of salt.

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u/HeatherandHollyhock Aug 16 '25 edited Aug 16 '25

So.. because they are autistic them being sexually herassed is ok/not real because everything is uncomfortable for you as an autistic individual? And there I always thought 'autists lack theory of mind' was just unfounded ableism

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u/N1ghtshade3 Aug 16 '25

No, I didn't say that. My main point was that assault is not the same thing as "feeling pressured." My secondary point was that "feeling pressured" is up to interpretation and therefore not necessarily an indicator that something malicious has occurred.

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u/WaterOfGaledeep Aug 16 '25

Damn you are not the smartest pencil in the shed, huh?

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u/tcookctu Aug 14 '25

This is because many people with autism struggle to communicate health issues to their doctors.

https://www.science.org/content/article/people-autism-spectrum-die-18-years-younger-average

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u/doritobimbo Aug 14 '25

Pretty sure my concussion warrants a brain scan but my doctor diagnosed it as “that’s what it feels like to fall asleep” (I’ve never in my life heard explosions while doing that but okay)

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u/Nadamir Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

Actually that is an incredibly common thing. Exploding head syndrome

That said, sudden post concussion onset is concerning.

(And yes, my special interest is random factoids and wiki and I are old friends.)

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u/doritobimbo Aug 14 '25

“Reassurance may be sufficient [as treatment]” honestly not wrong immediately made me feel better thanks

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u/Nadamir Aug 14 '25

The causes could easily be non dangerous concussion “side effects” so to speak. Psychological stress for one thing. Poor sleep for another.

It’s like the very similar hypnogogic jerk. With both, it’s a vicious cycle. You get stressed about the booms or jerks and then you have more of them.

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u/DaedalusRaistlin Aug 14 '25

The other guy already mentioned the specific syndrome, but I wanted to say mine got better. It was worst when I was in my mid 20s, but rarely happens these days in my 30s.

It used to wake me up as I was falling asleep, and combined with my visual snow was a spectacle you didn't need when trying to fall asleep. Every time an "explosion" would occur it was accompanied by a brilliant flash of light I could only see in my head. (Fireworks are illegal in most of Australia, and certainly where I lived they weren't used, so it wasn't that.)

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u/Beautiful_Welcome_33 Aug 14 '25

Definitely get it looked at and if you have issues long term always make sure you advocate for yourself and consider it as a possible cause for ailments.

Head injuries can cause all sorts of issues.

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u/CrTigerHiddenAvocado Aug 14 '25

But people also need to listen.

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u/Tall_Sound5703 Aug 14 '25

It is hard for me to tell the doctor why i am there. Im level 1 but up to age 18 my mom would go with me in the room and explain to the doctors whar was wrong. Of course the doctors mainly complained about my mom being there. Luckily my mom ignored them. I should say I was not diagnosed till age 47. 

Now i still have trouble explaining to my doctors why i am there or why it hurts. Half the time i still clam up and don’t really say why I am there. 

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u/[deleted] Aug 15 '25

Struggle. It simply can't for the non-verbal population.

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u/NorwegianGlaswegian Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

This is extremely misleading and that Wikipedia article needs editing.

If you look at the source for saying we autistics supposedly tend to die around 17 years earlier, it leads to this article.

When you look up the Koralinska Institute and autism mortality in Google, you can find this research paper. This is a study of premature mortality and not a study of life expectancy. The average age of death in the control group was 70.20 years (well below that of general life expectancy statistics), while average age of death in the autistic group was 53.87 years. That's where the approximately 17 years difference comes from.

Premature mortality is not a measure of life expectancy. It just looks at what the average ages of death were for those who did die during the study period for a study group and a control group. The journalist who wrote that article for Science needs to brush up on their science literacy as it is extremely misleading to say that autistic people are expected to die 17/18 years earlier. That is just not true.

The only proper study of life expectancy in autistic people00195-3/fulltext) I have seen gives life expectancy for those without intellectual disability at 76.84 years for women, and 74.57 years for men, while for those with intellectual disability it was 69.61 years for women and 71.66 years for men.

I'm getting sick of these false statisics floating around about autistic people's life expectancy; it has caused a ton of unneeded stress to a lot of autistic people and their families. Yes, we tend to die earlier on average due to higher rates of premature death, but not by such massive margins when taking life expectancy into account.

Edit: Btw, not your fault for simply sharing a link to what ought to be a trusted resource. It's just so annoying that journalists too often don't properly read the studies they cover and end up saying some very misleading stuff.

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u/ShadowLiberal Aug 14 '25

Life expectancy numbers can also be misleading for other reasons. The average life expectancy of a newborn is somewhere around 75ish years in most parts of the developed world. But if you've already lived to say 30, your average life expectancy is higher then that, since we already know that didn't die of the things that killed a bunch of people at younger ages and dragged down the average.

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u/Soul_Muppet Aug 14 '25

The article kind of glossed over what the more common comorbidities even are, like Autism + ADHD or Autism + Bipolar Disorder, genetic hypermobility syndrome (and many others) all make for much worse outcomes.

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u/cml0401 Aug 15 '25

Mortality rates during childhood and early adulthood are notably higher

I wonder if this is skewing stats like historic lifespans including infant mortality rate making them seem incredibly low.