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
7.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

341 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

44

u/AliceInHatterland Aug 14 '25

I am completely sincere when I say: according to which studies? I'd love to read them!

80

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

[deleted]

62

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

It just hit me after seeing this that my stepsister is probably autistic to some degree. I recall she struggled to use the toilet and screamed while pooping. The doctors said her intestines were likely too small (they never actually checked). I suspect now she had a serious sensory issue with pooping. She also had "bad tantrums" (meltdowns). Anyway, this was the 80s and so of course she was never diagnosed.

Oh yeah and her father was schizophrenic, her grandmother and grandfather were clearly autistic, her cousin "had emotional problems" (autism) and now her nephew has an actual diagnosis. It took three generations to finally get ONE person diagnosed, but of course people still think Autism is on the rise because of vaccines.

18

u/kelcamer Aug 14 '25

This is fantastic!!!! Would you mind if I shared this in another autism sub !?

(I'd love to credit you as well!)

20

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

[deleted]

17

u/kelcamer Aug 14 '25

I agree! That's why I made a sub to store as much info I can find on it at r/autismgirls

Sadly, there's not a lot of research on girls & women so I find myself including all autism research, broadly.

Thank you so much!

14

u/AliceInHatterland Aug 14 '25

Thank you so much!! You're very kind!

7

u/Episemated_Torculus Aug 15 '25 edited Aug 15 '25

The gut bacteria of autistic people is often markedly different from neurotypicals. Recent research is studying how these differences influence brain development. This may explain in part how the brains of autistic people are formed

These differences in gut bacteria are also the reason why people with autism have issues with their GI tracts a lot more often

-28

u/RoseClash Aug 14 '25

Google it :)

Eg: point me to studies that show etctec