Do autistic people age faster?

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Pot, the kettle called...

Could easily say the same about some of your questions.

So autistic people are often said to look 10-20 years younger but we age quicker?

Looks like this is just one of those "I will ask before I think" questions, or one of those "this happens to me so it must be an autism thing" questions.

I get mistaken for my late teens. Every time I voted in person I was asked if it was my first time and people at the animal shelter I volunteered at before the pandemic were surprised I was in my 20s. The funny thing is that in my early teens people thought I was older than I was because I was tall for my age. So I've apparently looked 18 for ten years.

^I wish I was like you.

I looked like a middle schooler at my high school graduation.

Not only do I think I am aging slower than expected, but a have a hypothesis as to why that might be related to ASD. It is well know that there are correlations between ASD and mitochondrial dysfunction. I believe I have many mitochondrial related comorbids as well. Mitochondria are also strongly connected to aging, although it is not understood very well. Here is an article that discusses mitochondrial dysfunction resulting in slow aging: Mitochondria: Body’s power stations can affect aging

I found the article on WEBMD autistic people do have shorter lifespans, that doesn't mean some don't live to 100, but on average the lifespan is shorter.

People with autism pass away younger on average than those without the condition, according to recent research.

The Swedish study found that adults with autism and a learning disability are 40 times more likely to die early due to a neurological condition than those in the general population.

Adults with autism, but without an additional learning disability, were nine times more likely to die from suicide than those without autism.

The Swedish study, carried out by the Karolinska Institute, was based on the health records of 27,122 autistic adults diagnosed between 1987 and 2009, compared with more than 2 million people in the general population.

The researchers found that people with autism died 16 years earlier at an average age of 54. Adults with the condition and learning disabilities died more than 30 years earlier than people without autism at an average age of 39.5 years. Adults with autism and without a learning disability died on average 12 years earlier, at 58.

The condition affects how people communicate and relate to others, and it influences how they make sense of the world around them. Symptoms can range from mild to very severe.

So far, observation tells me that...

Autistics in general;
Feel (emotionally) younger. Too innocent/clueless.
Feel (mentally) older. Too serious.
Feel (sensory) older. Too tired.
Feel (experience) younger. Too curious/naive.

More like at weird odds of being developmentally lagged or underequipped, while working in a life of high risk and low reward.

It does not speak of lifespans.
But more about the relative experience of one's life and living.

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All I’m saying is that autism does not INEVITABLY result in a reduced lifespan.

I understand that certain factors might reduce the lifespan of someone with autism....these same factors also reduce the lifespan of people who do not have autism.

I personally don't care about my external appearance that much rather than my internal one and my health.

I appear quite youthful despite in two or some years pushing 30.

I don't stay out in the sun. Where I live it's mostly bad weather all around and not beach weather.

Also I stay in home all the time anyway. And thanks to lockdown I don't even need to commute to office.

Since autism is often genetic, and there are a lot of different genes suspected to cause it, maybe some of them make people age a bit slower or faster.

I get told I look younger than I actually am, but I'm only 20. A lot of people get told that at my age.

People think I'm a lot younger than I am.

I haven't aged faster. My wrinkles give my age (~50) away, but my behavior outshines my physical appearance so people think I am younger. I have light, freckled skin which I didn't care for and am highly expressive: wrinkles. I am doing some facial treatments now to get rid of sun damage. I have sensory issues and follow rules, so eat well and exercise: fitness. I am super stressed but also super joyful. I almost didn't make it past my 20s, but since I did, I hope to get to my 100s! (My AS-like favorite cousin died in her late 20s, so our "average" lifespan is closer to that study's 50 than not. Then if you consider my undiagnosed but AS-like mom -nearing 80- and grandma -passed in her 90s- the average improves.)

Well guys this is just crazy, apparently my almost 7 year old is aging than her own age because she already has a line under her eyes on each side and all the dermatologist articles are calling them wrinkles and say it's aging lmao. Any line on your face is due to aging so that means my daughter must have an aging disease lmao. But still she looks no more than 8 years old. If people are going to be using any body flaws and lines to guess your age, well that will be a lot of teenagers looking like 35 year olds due to fine lines on their skin and fore lines and laughing lines ort smile lines and don't forget lip hair. I have also had a orange peeled chin since puberty. But yet no one had ever thought I was 30 when I was a teen.

After I started taking my new meds I am thinking all these articles are just gimmicks written by dermatologists to make money to feed off of peoples insecurities. If they can tell you it's all due to age, you will go in and they make money since insurance never covers anything cosmetic.