People with autism spectrum disorders have been found to have a high incidence of self-harm
A retrospective cohort study by British scientists has found that adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have higher rates of self-harm, anxiety, depressive disorders and substance use compared to controls. As reported in The Lancet Regional Health - Europe, the same cohort of people also have a lower incidence of neck or back pain.
Between one and three percent of the population is thought to suffer from RAS, and all of these people require different types of support. Studies of adults with clinically diagnosed RAS show that about 30 percent have mental retardation. At the same time, adults with RAS report barriers to accessing health care, which can result in untimely or misdiagnosed conditions, worsening health conditions, greater reliance on emergency care, and premature mortality.
Several studies have shown that people with ASD may have an increased risk of mental disorders, non-communicable diseases, and several other conditions. However, difficulty getting medical care can lead to under-detection of these and other conditions, resulting in lower rates of diagnosed health problems compared to the general population in medical records.
Therefore, a research team led by Joshua Stott estimated the frequency of new diagnoses of common conditions in adults with RA compared to the general population. To do this, she used data from UK primary care electronic records. The analysis included 15675 adults diagnosed with RAS without mental retardation, 6437 with RAS and associated mental retardation, and 9504311 controls. Thus, the diagnosed prevalence of RAS was 0.23 percent, potentially ten times lower than the true prevalence of autism based on current diagnostic criteria.
Compared with people without a diagnosis of RAS or mental retardation, people with RAS without mental retardation were more likely to have anxiety (20.9 percent vs. 6.1 percent; p < 0.001), depression (23.3 percent vs. 7.6 percent; p < 0.001), self-harm (9.8 percent vs. 2.6 percent; p < 0.001), and substance use (2.8 percent vs. 1.3 percent; p < 0.001). The frequency of alcohol abuse, migraine, and gynecologic disorders did not differ between groups, and neck and back pain were less common in people with ASD.
Among autistic people with mental retardation, a higher proportion had previously suffered from anxiety (13.3 percent vs. 7.0 percent; p < 0.001), depression (12.9 percent vs. 9.8 percent; p < 0.001), and self-harm (6.6 percent vs. 3.1 percent; p < 0.001). The incidence of gynecologic disease was not significantly different, but the incidence of alcohol abuse, substance use, and migraines and neck or back pain were less frequently reported.
Additional statistical analyses with the calculation of incidence rates showed that self-harm was most common in people with ASD (both with and without mental retardation): on average, it occurred twice as often as in the general population. The incidence rates of the other conditions were generally consistent with the primary prevalence analyses.
Researchers recognize that this analysis may not reflect the true prevalence of various diseases and injuries in people with RA because of their limited access to medical care. However, these data somehow reflect some cross-section of the prevalence of people with ASD, which may help in the development of programs to support these patients.