Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis have an increased prevalence of identified dementia diagnoses, according to a research letter. published online Jan. 2 in JAMA Network Open,

Giacomo Vivanti, Ph.D., from the AJ Drexel Autism Institute at Drexel University in Philadelphia, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study to examine the nationwide prevalence of identified dementia diagnoses in individuals with assigned ASD diagnoses in linked Medicare and Medicaid data. Given the known association between intellectual disabilities (ID) and dementia, an ASD-only group and an ASD-plus-ID group were created (46,877 and 67,705 individuals, respectively).

The researchers found that an identified dementia diagnosis was present in 8.03 and 8.88 percent of the ASD-only and ASD-plus-ID groups, respectively. With age, there was an increase seen in the odds of a dementia diagnosis, with prevalence rates of 35.12 and 31.22 percent in the ASD-only and ASD-plus-ID groups, respectively, among individuals older than 64 years. After controlling for residence state, higher odds of a dementia diagnosis were seen in individuals with cardiovascular risk factors and depression or other psychiatric conditions.

“Our data highlight the importance of health policy efforts for the growing ASD population at risk for or affected by dementia,” the authors write. “Future research should address factors that might contribute to the cooccurrence of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative conditions, including barriers to accessing educational and social opportunities, as well as biological mechanisms of shared pathophysiology.”

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