People with autism who were enrolled in Medicaid died at higher rates than other enrollees from several causes that doctors consider largely preventable, including drowning, influenza, and pneumonia, according to a study of more than 2 million people published Sept. 10 in JAMA Network Open.
The researchers, from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz, estimated that life expectancy at birth for Medicaid beneficiaries with autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, was 64.9 years. That is 5.6 years shorter than for the overall Medicaid population and 13.8 years shorter than for the U.S. general population.
