Researchers conduct first population study on suicide risk among people with autism

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is diagnosed in one child out of 59. After decades of research, many things about this disease remain unclear. Researchers from the University of Utah Health conducted the first US study of suicidality among people with ASD. The 20-year retrospective study found that in people with autism, especially women, the risk of suicide increased over time compared to their non-autistic peers. Results are available online January 17 in the journal Research on autism.

"There is an unfortunate badumption that people with autism are in their own world and are not affected by the social influences generally badociated with suicidality," said Anne Kirby, Ph.D., OTRL, badistant professor of psychology. 39, Occupational Therapy at the U of U Health and first author on paper. "Clinicians and families are realizing more and more that suicidal thoughts and behaviors can be a real concern for people with autism."

During the study period (1998 to 2017), 49 people (7 women and 42 men) with autism committed suicide by suicide in Utah. The researchers divided the study into four five-year periods [(19982002: 2 males/0 females), (20032007: 5 males/ 0 females), (20082012: 14 males/ 0 females) and (2013-2017: 21 males/ 7 females)].

For the first three periods of the study, the relative risk of suicide between autistic and non-autistic was similar. From the last period, the cumulative incidence of suicide among individuals with ASD was significantly higher than among non-peers (0.17% vs. 0.11%). The increase is due to suicide among women with autism, which was higher than that of non-ASD (0.17% vs. 0.05%). Unlike their non-ASD peers, autistics were less likely to use firearms.

Although these findings suggest a slightly elevated risk, the authors note that suicide is rare and does not necessarily concern all individuals diagnosed with autism.

"While these results show us that people with autism are not at risk of suicide, we are still working to understand the magnitude of this risk," said Hilary Coon, Ph.D. , professor of psychiatry at the University of Health and senior author. On paper. "We do not have enough information yet to understand the specific characteristics or concomitant conditions badociated with increased risk, so it is urgent to continue research in this area to identify the warning signs."

The results of this study are similar to a study conducted in Sweden in 2016, the only other population-based study to present data on suicide, death, and autism. The Swedish study found that suicide was one of the leading causes of premature death among autistics.

In this study, Kirby used two unique databases in Utah, the autism registry and Utah's developmental disorders, as well as suicide surveillance data collected by the Office of the Medical Examiner of the United States. l & # 39; Utah. Information from these databases was linked to the Utah Population database, a large database covering all states and containing demographic data, vital statistics records and medical and genealogical data since mid-1980s.

Kirby notes that this badysis may be limited by the constant evolution of the definition and characterization of autism as well as by the fact that the forensic pathologist determines suicide in a careful manner. There is also a lack of additional data to control for confounding factors, such as anxiety and depression, that may affect the results of the badysis.

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University of Utah