Autism and Life Expectancy

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Do people on the autism spectrum have a shorter life expectancy than the general population? I was just reading an article that people on the spectrum die 18 years younger than the average life expectancy. In the article it only mentioned suicide. I also read another article where people with Asperger's die from epilepsy or from the medications they take. Obviously, people on the spectrum or lonelier and more isolated. They tend to have suicidal thoughts and may attempt suicide. If someone on the spectrum does not commit suicide or does not take harmful substances, can he or she expect to live to an old age? I'm wondering because I have always heard that people on the spectrum can expect to live an average life expectancy. Now I am reading articles that suggest people on the spectrum die on average 18 years younger than the average life expectancy.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/ ... er-average

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/its ... 64751.html

Things like depression are common among autistics, also other factors like vulnerability (more for the lower functioning types), and suicide. But autism does not cause shorter life expectancy physically health-wise.

Agreed, it's not the autism itself.

A lot of us take toxic medications in order to function, which my doctor bluntly told me will shorten my life expectancy by about 20 to 25 years. He was concerned that if I didn't take them my life expectancy would be even shorter due to suicidal depression, so it was quite literally a case of "choose your poison."

A lot of us suffer from physical and mental co-morbid conditions. It's everything from poor motor coordination that can lead to falls and accidents to apathy about eating properly and taking care of one's health. Anxiety and stress cause increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which causes general inflammation in the body. General inflammation can lead to everything from heart disease to cancer.

It's not limited to autism. Anyone who suffers from PTSD, severe childhood trauma or debilitating mental illness is prone to the same problems.

I would bet that some people who are mildly affected, don't have to rely on medication and who otherwise take good care of themselves can beat the odds and live normal life spans.

An aside, as an insurance underwriter (before I knew I had Asperger's syndrome) autism and related conditions were considered organic brain diseases with other associated risks and were disqualifying. There was a concern about mental competence as well because you have to be fully informed and able to give legal consent to sign for a life insurance policy, which is something not even a power of attorney can do on your behalf in the US. But mostly it was due to the mortality tables. Insurance is all about cold hard statistics, which indicated that we tend to tap out before age 65.

You don't have to be a statistic though. I will if I can't get off these meds and take better care of myself, but there are others on the forum who are already past 65 and still plugging away. It isn't a death sentence.

People with autism without other, especially genetic/chromosomal, disorders do not have a reduced lifespan

I think that this is likely to be a very important factor for many of us. My executive function deficits and social difficulties lead me to have poor self-care very often, and a profound reluctance to ask for or to accept help, either from peers, or particularly, professionals.

Yes, this is at least as big an issue as the toxic pharmaceutical cocktail. I am dreadful about self-care and also have trouble asking for help. I feel like I'm already too much of a burden on others. Also I tend to downplay just how bad the executive function problems are with my doctor for fear of being institutionalized.

Yeah, for the first 30 years of my life or so, I didn't take good care of myself, not seeing the point. I'm trying to change that now, but it's difficult, especially since I do try to ask for help now, and get so little of it.

I will more than likely die prematurely due to my being overweight or obese than anything else. Everything that's wrong with me is supposedly because of my weight. If I went to the hospital because I was impaled by a 10-foot long steel rod through my midsection, the doctors would tell me I'd feel better if I just lost some weight.

On the other hand, I don't smoke, drink alcohol or do drugs except for the psychiatric medication I take.

Last edited by lostonearth35 on 18 Sep 2018, 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've been communicating better with my doctors as I think this is a skill that will help my life expectancy.

Not sure about anyone else, but does anyone notice people with autism look younger than they actually are? 18 years of age and I still have the same face from when I was 10. So I wonder if the ageing process actually slows down, which could explained “delayed” development.

I look quite a bit younger than my chronological age. I hope that means I will live a long time. I hope I do live a long life, because there is so much I want to do and need to do.

This might be a different perspective from what most people have posted till so far. Maybe someone can relate to my experience.

I have diagnosed Asperger's and I have always been scared of death to the point I constantly avoid any life-threatning situations till now. I often have nightmares where I try to escape disquieting death. The topic of death and suicide is very sensitive for me and my family members becasue there was a traumatic experience in my family, and that person might have had Asperger's or such. As such, nobody talks about such topics. It seems Asperger's, ADHD and so on is common occurence in my family line.

I often am paranoid about death recalling situations. I have a a very hard time sleeping soundly because my dreams are very colour vivid and mostly nightmares reminiscent of my past near-traumatic events. It's very distressing and I have to always take part in life sleep deprived.

In a way, this fear of death has made myself more aware of my health and I'm always looking for ways to live a longer and fulfilling life in my own ways. Although death might be uncalled for, I still live life in the way I see myself the happiest, even if most people might disagree in my theory of happiness.

I do not have suicidal tendencies, but I have been badly depressed before, since I couldn't (and still find it difficult, but I have had enough time to learn the most basic societal rules) to relate to most people. Still, while I have been isolated most of my life, I still found solace in internet communities and doing my hobbies. Life knowledge is vast and new things to discover are abundant, so it's still worth living withstanding all the pain. As for pain, I'm relating for other illnesses I also have that have determined my life to an extent, but they're not too debilitating. I can still have a normal life, I just have to be extra careful. I also have very bad childhood memories, but I always look forward for the hopeful future instead of obsessing over the past.

My face tells me I'm around 12 years old, although I'm 20 years old now and my body aside from my face suggests that. I have a complex regarding that. I do not think that it means I'll live a longer life, though.

I also face high levels of stress and sometimes my heart beats so fast I fear I'll die soon. Everyday I must face a bittersweat challenge of pits of enthusiams and anxiety that intertwine themselves in unforeseeable ways. When I was a kid, I looked at the mirror and couldn't recognise my face, and have trouble remembering people's faces in my dreams (not so much in real life though). I still have to consciently remember aspects that relate to myself. I dissociate a lot. There were times I felt life was like a movie, I was a "brain" and not a "body" and was estranged from life, and it was the most depressing times ever. I hope I do not face that again, although my levels of dissociation have varied a lot from time to time. Although I do not quite agree with this, I still prefer to try to relate to people, even if it might be awkward, in order to avoid dissociating too much to the point I'm unable to recall important aspects of myself.


This is my account relating to Autism and Life Expectancy and I hope it's useful information.

I'm 34 years old, and when people guess my age, they always guess younger. I think some reasons might be:
--Maybe I actually do look kind of young (in spite of my increasing number of gray hairs)
--People think they'd be insulting me if they guessed older than my age
--I have many friends who are university students or other people who are younger than me
--I really don't know this for sure, but maybe people think I'm innocent/naive/inexperienced for my age? Maybe some people don't associate 34-year-olds with some of the things that are characteristic of me (having trouble finding a job, bad at communication, not reaching other "milestones" or things that I'm supposed to be capable of doing at my age.)

And I myself am terrible at guessing people's ages from their appearance, so I don't even try.

Last edited by AltoClarinet on 21 Sep 2018, 1:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well to my knowledge; autism is typically characterized by stress and anxiety. Stress ages a person... it seems logical to suggest that ASD would lead to a shorter lifespan even in the absence of suicide. I'm in my mid-twenties and I've got numerous health problems that are mostly seen in middle aged and old men... many of which I've suffered with since my teens. I attribute this to spending my life in defense mode and inadvertently wreaking havoc on myself.

My doctor actually told me that many people with autism tend to have health problems associated with being overweight and overeating and not getting enough exercise.

That actually made sense to me because every Aspie I knew was overweight and so was I. We're not the type to stay active and healthy we tend to lock ourselves away from the world in our homes and in our bedrooms and when you do that you tend to eat all day out of boredom and sit around watching TV or browsing the internet.

So I imagine a lot of people with autism suffer health problems just from not eating right or not getting the exercise they need.

Strange I've actually read the opposite to be true; that aspies actually tend to be underweight. Your testimony is no surprise to me as I was overweight during my adolescence... But my health problems aren't directly correlated with being overweight per se as much as they're a result of inflammation. I got in shape and cleaned up my diet substantially in my late teens... my health problems still persist.