The older people need more assistance after years of wrong diagnosis, and find a review | unite
The researchers called for better support for people with middle -aged autistic and the elderly after a review that 90 % of people with autism over the age of 50 in Britain are either not diagnostic or were incorrectly diagnosed.
Increased awareness of improved autism and assessments worldwide means that they are usually monitored in childhood today. But in the past decades, people with autism were often forced to move at the age of average and aging without support that could open the diagnosis.
A review of the aging spectrum found that people in the UK faced widespread difficulties in employment, relationships and distinctive events such as menopause and retirement. They have been constantly suffering from the poorest mental and physical health.
Dr. Javin Stewart, the participant in the leadership of the participants in Reply: Saif Laboratory At King’s College London and audit author. “People often need a diagnosis, or need to recognize it within themselves, to be able to seek appropriate help and support.”
As part of the review, Stewart and Professor Francesca Hap also re -recruited in King’s health care records of 2018. By comparing the rates of middle -aged autistic disease and the elderly with 1 % of the recognized national spread today, they estimate that in the United Kingdom 89 % of people between 40 and 59 %, and 97 % of those between the ages of 60, And more.
Although global autism rates have risen in recent decades – in 2022, one in every 31 Americans was found under the age of eight years – the trend is largely due to the expansion of definitions and improvements in diagnosis, rather than a real increase in the percentage of affected people.
The researchers continued to study how people with autism and unification throughout life were. He found and found that the first had rates higher than many cases ranging from anxiety and depression to cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders.
Among the most anxious results, rates of suicide ideas and self -abuse in the elderly with autism, and greater risk of dementia at the beginning of its appearance early.
The average expectation of six years has differed, as people with autism live up to 75 years, compared to 81 years for non -automatic people, but these numbers can tend due to bad diagnostic rates. Details are published in Annual review of development psychology.
“We need to understand how aging affects people with autism to understand the best designer assistance and support that they will already benefit from,” Stewart said. “These are all things that [autism] Society needs consultation. “
Autism is different from person to person, but doctors are looking for basic properties when evaluating people. These include the differences in social communication and solid and repeated behaviors.
Differences in communication can become socially isolated. This, in addition to the stigma faced by many people with autism, can increase the risk of mental and physical health problems. It can make it difficult for people with autism to find people dealing with them for help and support.
According to the review, the older people were likely to face challenges in dealing with major life events such as the arrangement of residential care.
“If you move from work from nine to five working your working life suddenly, this may have a real impact on you,” Stewart said. “And if you are entering a care house where you suddenly have situations that you do not usually face in your home, this has a great impact.”
He added: “If the person with autism faces more difficulties throughout his life, when he reaches these points, they can be real break points. This is where the support will be really useful.”
“This research clearly shows what we know and hear it every day – there are large numbers of adults with unjustified autism, and life occurs without diagnosing a significant impact on many aspects of their lives,” said Tim Nichols, in the National Autism Society.
“Autism assessments can be the first step to understand people’s needs and the diagnosis can be a variable of life, and in some cases, he saves life. Autism and their families face a continuous battle for support and often this begins with a long wait for the diagnosis.
“The government must provide urgent funding for diagnostic services and ensure that people with autism and families get the support they need when they need it.”