Having autism or ADHD could come with a higher risk of dying earlier than normal, according to new research. Several previous studies have suggested these neurodevelopmental disorders might be linked with a higher risk of premature death, but findings were inconsistent, according to a new meta-analysis, or review of data from many previous studies, published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The meta-analysis examined 27 studies that were based in North America and Europe and published between 1988 and 2021, amounting to more than 642,000 participants.
The new research found that early mortality -- which, in the meta-analysis, was usually death in childhood or by midlife -- from natural and unnatural causes was more than two times more likely for both people with autism and those with ADHD than for the general population, said the review's lead author Ferrán Catalá-López, via email. Natural causes included cardiac events and seizures; unnatural causes included unintentional injuries, suicide and homicide.
Among those with ADHD, the number of premature deaths from unnatural causes (847) was higher than expected, but their risk of early death from natural causes wasn't as significant as that of people with autism, according to the meta-analysis. But Catalá-López, a scientist at the National School of Public Health and Network Centre for Biomedical Research in Mental Health -- both at the Institute of Health Carlos III in Madrid -- said the findings shouldn't be viewed as a death sentence.
The results of our study should not be interpreted as that having any of these disorders means that people who suffer from them will (necessarily) die prematurely due to traffic accidents, poisoning or suicide," he said via email.
In a commentary on the meta-analysis, neurodevelopment experts Russell A. Barkley and Geraldine Dawson - who weren't involved in the research - also highlighted how preventive health care can make a difference.
"After all, ELE (estimated life expectancy) is malleable," wrote Barkley and Dawson, a former clinical professor of psychiatry at the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center and the William Cleland Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University, respectively. "Change the adverse health and lifestyle factors affecting it, and one can improve quality of life, as well as life expectancy."
People with autism or ADHD "frequently die of preventable natural causes," they also wrote. "This knowledge demands widespread recognition and the implementation of systematic screening and preventive approaches."
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Read the JAMA Peds editorial, "Higher Risk of Mortality for Individuals Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Demands a Public Health Prevention Strategy," here