Admittedly, I had no idea there was a significant life expectancy penalty for people with autism. Apparently this was a widely known fact since at least the 80’s - I completely missed that. Some of the risks are avoidable or can be mitigated. Nonetheless, this is a pretty large effect and impactful on a population level. It is also not clear to me why some of these risk factors operate - why would people with autism be more vulnerable to flu etc.
Autism Spectrum Disorder and Life Expectancy Among Medicaid Beneficiaries
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2853885
Pop-sci article:
Study: Autism shaves an average of 14 years from life expectancy, with flu the leading contributor
It is important to note that excess deaths were observed in “most disease categories and medical conditions”:
“Excess death among autistic Medicaid beneficiaries was observed in most disease categories and medical conditions but was most pronounced with flu (sex-standardized mortality ratio [SMR], 10.55), malnutrition (SMR, 7.56), pneumonitis due to inhalation of solids and liquids (SMR, 6.92), non-vehicle accidents (SMR, 4.48), drowning (SMR, 3.26), and pneumonia (SMR, 3.06).”
I mean, psychiatric issues might cause malnutrition and pneumotitis, drownings, accidents and suicides - but why does flu have such an outsize disparity?