Findings of a recent study have indicated that the age at which autism is diagnosed doesn’t affect the person’s quality of life.

Researchers from the University of Bath and King’s College London conducted the first-of-its-kind study to research the correlation between the age at which individuals turn out to be aware of their autism and its impact on their quality of life.

The study’s results, published within the journal Autism, showed the age at which someone learned they were autistic didn’t have a powerful connection to their quality of life. Moreover, the consequences were disproportionate based on gender– autistic women had a greater quality of life in comparison with men, while individuals who had additional mental health conditions like anxiety tended to have a lower quality of life.

The study involved 300 adults with autism, who were asked to share the age at which they became aware of their autism. Along with this, the researchers collected detailed details about their socio-demographic background, including their current age, gender, ethnicity, relationship status, living arrangements, educational level, employment status, household income, and any additional mental health conditions they could have. The participants’ level of autistic personality traits was also assessed through the study.

“For some people, checking out they’re autistic sooner slightly than later was linked to a greater quality of life. For others, checking out later was higher. Overall, there was no overall link between the age they discovered and their quality of life,” said Lucy Livingston, senior research fellow on the University of Bath and lecturer in Psychology at King’s College London, in a news release.

“Our findings revealed that having more autistic personality characteristics–irrespective of once you learn you’re autistic–was the strongest link to poor outcomes across all areas of quality of life. We at the moment are following up on this finding to look more closely at how different autistic characteristics contribute to quality of life. This will likely be a crucial step towards establishing more tailored, more efficacious support for autistic people based on their specific autistic strengths and difficulties and self-evaluation of their quality of life,” Dr. Florence Leung, lead researcher on the University of Bath, said within the news release.

The study showed males with autism and folks who produce other mental health problems can have a harder time.

“Moreover, being male and having additional mental health conditions was linked with poor quality of life. These observations highlight the importance of considering support strategies which are gender-specific to have a more targeted deal with improving autistic people’s mental health, to enhance their life outcomes. There has understandably been quite plenty of discussion on autism and mental health in females lately but, based on these findings, we should always not overlook the must autistic males who may additionally be struggling.”

A latest study has found that common ear, nose, and throat (ENT) problems and upper respiratory infections in young children may indicate the next risk of autism.
pixabay

Published by Medicaldaily.com