Autistics die a lot younger then the general population

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What I'm saying, really, is that the autism itself doesn't cause a reduction in lifespan in many cases.

Stress in life can cause a reduction in lifespan--whether one is autistic or not. Stress caused by autism could definitely reduce lifespan.

But being born with autism doesn't cause a reduction in lifespan merely because of the autism. Other factors have to be in play.

Somebody with Down Syndrome alone has a somewhat reduced lifespan (the reduction is much less than it was a generation ago). The physical ailments of Down Syndrome could be the cause of this.

In other words, don't assume you're going to die young if you're autistic.

Another social aspect of how autism might affect health is the difficulty of accessing healthcare, and the all too common problem of misdiagnosis if autistic traits are not accounted for. I think this is particularly the case when it comes to treatment for mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression. Lack of autism awareness among front-line healthcare workers has been very common among those that I've worked with - I might even have been diagnosed a decade earlier had I been referred for an evaluation, rather than staff dismissing the possibility based on their own stereotypes.

My personal experience of cognitive based therapies is that they can be ineffective, or even extremely counter-productive, if autism isn't acknowledged and the therapy adjusted accordingly. If the patient is experiencing suicidal ideation, then it is obvious how this might greatly affect their life expectancy.

Even something as simple as requiring an early morning telephone call to get an appointment, or the lack of a home visit option, could severely restrict some people's ability to access the help that they need. I have many, many times waited for months after the first signs of depression because of anxiety over the process of getting help. Likewise, I know of several people who put off visits to the doctor or dentist due to hypersensitivity to needles or anaesthetics, and the lack of sensitivity of the professionals to the patient's anxiety.

Quite right Bea. Having an advocate, or even just sympathetic company, can make a huge difference to the anxiety provoked by those situations.

In modern times, when so many people move far away from family and friends seeking education and employment, I think we do need to be looking for ways to provide social support similar to the networks of family and community that were easier to establish in less 'mobile' times.

I did a bit of searching and it seemed that the only widely accepted large scale previous study was done in 1998 and updated in 2002. The three published articles on this are available to read here:

http://www.lifeexpectancy.org/articles/a1.pdf
http://www.lifeexpectancy.org/articles/a2.pdf
http://www.lifeexpectancy.org/articles/a3.pdf

As far as the new study referenced in post #1, I can not find it available for free. The abstract only (and access to the study for a fee) is shown here:

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/208/3/232

Both studies seem to have come to the same number, 2.6 as the death rate compared the average (1). How this translates into shorter lifespans was quite different in the first study (-6 yrs male, -12 female) as compared to how reported in the Guardian Report referenced in Post #1 (-16 years, gender not specified).

I think the original post was, if not trolling, at the least provocative, negative, and not fully substantiated.

And I don't really think the title should be allowed to stand.

It's blatantly inaccurate and imprecise. Is it an average, mean, median, etc. What country and region was the sample taken from? What sample controls were there? Where is the epidemiology in it? Yes, I know I have a choice whether to
log in, and whether to read it.

But I really wish there was some moderating--it seems to me that the thread titles is rehashing some
questionable research in a very catastrophizing reductionist way. I would avoid someone who used that
as a conversational gambit. Really, I shouldn't have looked at the thread.

plus 'then' is the wrong word here

The thread title seems to me very misleading as implies that just being autistic means you die younger! The research can only speculate about incidence rates, and if it didn't look at contextual variables in any depth then I wonder where the researcher was really coming from.

The first thing a peer reviewer of some academic strength would look at would be this question: were the targeted samples randomly drawn or not, as this is a fundamental scientific issue which very importantly relates to the credibility of the claims in the conclusion.

The question is: how did the researchers define autism?

Also: What was the objective functioning level of the participants.

Autism is such a broad spectrum that a study concluding that "autistic" people are characterized by.......will not provide me with any information.

I'm high functining autistic in my 40s, I hope I don't die early, I love living. I love my job as a bus driver, I love being married to my husband, and I love not having any friends. I'm happy to not have friends. I don't want any. I've always been solitary and Iv'e been happy that way. I don't care for friends. So would lonliness kill you if you ENJOY being solitary, if you're HAPPY that way? Having friends causes too much stress for my autistic mind to handle.

You're not going to die early if you keep yourself healthy.

Your lifespan is not reduced by your autism alone.

Please believe that.

...Like me ? My father died 74 (My mom at 61 ~ lung cancer for the usual reason) I am 56 and I've had the " you may be dead in a year " concept brought up to me ...........