A new study makes a disturbing discovery regarding autistic children being at greater risk for drowning compared to their peers.
Researchers analysed death reports of individuals who passed away in drowning mishaps and found a glaring link between autistic individuals and drowning. People diagnosed with autism were seen to have a risk of more than 160 times that of their general peers.
Young children who are diagnosed with autism at 2 or 3 should be exposed to swimming lessons, even before starting other therapies, says Dr. Guohua Li.
Dr. Li says parents must consider swimming classes to be of high importance, as it will also result in improving the quality of their children’s lives.
“Paediatricians and parents should immediately enrol the child in swimming classes, before any behavioral therapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy,” said Li.
Dr. Li is a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.
“Swimming ability for kids with autism is an imperative survival skill,” he added.
MUST READ: The Ultimate Water Safety Guide for Children with Autism
This fact was discovered when Li and his team were analysing the death of 32 million individuals by going through their certificates in the U.S. National Vital Statistics System.
Between the years 1999 and 2014, as many as 1,370 of the departed souls had been diagnosed with autism.
The research found that autistic individuals had a higher chance of suffering from a death related to unintentional injury. The diagnosed individuals on average had also passed away at an early age of 36 compared to their normal peers who had lived beyond 70 years of age.
The findings also highlighted that more than a quarter of the deaths could be attributed to asphyxiation, suffocation or drowning-related accidents.
These risks are borne by kids most of the time. The analysis noted that these three injuries are responsible for nearly 80 percent of all other related injuries in children diagnosed with autism.
Li further adds that autistic children are more likely to visit places of water when they get anxious.
“They tend to have an affinity to water bodies—like pools or ponds or rivers,” he said. “They need to touch or feel the water to get that kind of calming effect, so they wade into the water and they drown.”
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder which affects one in every 68 U.S. children, as per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although autistic symptoms vary from individual to individual, difficulties in relationships and communication are very common.
As per the latest records available with the researchers, autism diagnosis has seen a nearly seven-fold increase from the year 1999 to 2014.
Li argues that this could be due to improvements in the technological field rather than autism prevalence.
Li says, “The diagnosis rate has increased in the past two decades, and you would expect a similar increase in mortality among individuals with autism.”
Li further comments that it is imperative that we identify the reasons behind the regular occurrence of asphyxiation and suffocation in individuals with autism.
Michael Rosanoff, director of public health research at Autism Speaks, agreed that the steep increase in deaths for people with autism is “most likely due to the increase in the number of autism diagnoses during that same time period.”
“Research like this is helping us to better understand the specific causes—in this case, common injury-related causes—of death that may be avoidable and preventable with appropriate interventions,” he said. “For example, teaching water safety to children with autism is important.”
I am Ash and I celebrate Neurodiversity! Growing up with an elder brother with severe Autism was tough – but it has also taught me essential life lessons. I don’t believe that people with Autism are necessarily or have any disorder (except in extreme cases). They are just different! And that is something to be proud of! I am passionate about helping other families who may have Autism conditions in their family. So please reach out and drop me a note. I will be glad to help 🙂
