Mortality risk among Autistic children and young people: A nationwide birth cohort study.
Hien Vu, Nicholas Bowden, Sheree Gibb and 10 others
PMID 38311609WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic children and young people in this large New Zealand cohort faced more than double the mortality risk of their non-Autistic peers.
The risk was substantially higher for females and for those with co-occurring intellectual disability, highlighting a critical need for targeted health and safety support.
Key findings
01Autistic children and young people had an adjusted hazard ratio for mortality of 2.35 compared to non-Autistic individuals.
02The mortality risk was significantly higher for Autistic females (HR = 5.40) than for Autistic males (HR = 1.82).
03Among Autistic children and young people, those with co-occurring intellectual disability had a significantly higher mortality risk (HR = 2.02) compared to those without.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The method for identifying autism relies on recorded diagnosis codes in health services, which likely undercounts the true number of Autistic individuals. The study could not analyze specific causes of death or age at death due to the small number of mortality events. The analysis of Māori ethnicity was limited by low statistical power, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions about this specific subgroup. The study used official statistical standards for sex (male/female) which do not account for intersex or transgender individuals.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the mortality risk is uniform across the Autistic population. The risk is substantially higher for females and for those with co-occurring intellectual disability, and these specific subgroups require different levels of clinical vigilance and support.