ArticleAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2021
Autistic traits are associated with faster pace of aging: Evidence from the Dunedin study at age 45.
Article in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan: Dynamic symptom trajectories and multidimensional support framework.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- Decreased BOLD Signal Variability in Middle-Aged and Older Adults on the Autism Spectrum.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Association of neurodevelopmental conditions with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and Parkinson's disease.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- An assessment of autistic and parkinsonian movement profiles to inform selective classification algorithms.Journal of neurodevelopmental disorders · 2026Article
- Autism Spectrum Disorder and Perivascular Spaces: An Integrative Perspective Across the Lifespan.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Tools for Detecting Ageing in People with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- DoliClock: a lipid-based aging clock reveals accelerated aging in neurological disorders.Aging · 2025Article
- Outcomes After Total Knee Arthroplasty in Patients With Autism: A Retrospective Database Study.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2024Article
- Aging Well and Autism: A Narrative Review and Recommendations for Future Research.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Brain Volume in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Over a 20-Year Span.JAMA network open · 2023Article
- Early maturation and hyperexcitability is a shared phenotype of cortical neurons derived from different ASD-associated mutations.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Deficiency of Autism-Related Gene Dock4 Leads to Impaired Spatial Memory and Hippocampal Function in Mice at Late Middle Age.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2023Article
- The cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with high vs. low autistic traits.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2023Article
- Epigenetics of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Multi-level Analysis Combining Epi-signature, Age Acceleration, Epigenetic Drift and Rare Epivariations Using Public Datasets.Current neuropharmacology · 2023Article
- Telomere length is causally connected to brain MRI image derived phenotypes: A mendelian randomization study.PloS one · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
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Abstract
Growing evidence indicates that the defining characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are distributed throughout the general population; hence, understanding the correlates of aging in people with high autistic traits could shed light on ASD and aging. 915 members of the Dunedin longitudinal birth cohort completed a measure of autistic traits at age 45. A composite measure of the "pace of aging" was derived by tracking the decline in 19 biomarkers across ages 26, 32, 38, and 45 years. Facial age was also assessed. Reports of perceived health were collected from participants themselves, informants, and interviewers. Higher self-reported autistic traits significantly correlated with a faster pace of aging, older facial age, and poorer self-, informant-, and interviewer-rated health. After control for sex, SES and IQ, autistic traits were significantly associated with each variable: pace of aging (β = 0.09), facial age (β = 0.08), self- (β = -0.15), informant (β = -0.12), and interviewer-rated (β = -0.17) health. Autistic traits measured at age 45 are associated with faster aging. Participants with high autistic traits appear to be more vulnerable to poor health outcomes, as previously reported for those clinically diagnosed with ASD. Therefore, autistic traits may have important health implications. Replicating these findings in samples of autistic people is needed to identify the mechanism of their effect on aging and physical health to improve outcomes for those with ASD diagnoses or high autistic traits. LAY SUMMARY: The role that autistic traits have in relation to health outcomes has not been investigated. We looked at how physical health and aging (measured with self-reported questions and decline in multiple biological measures) were related to autistic traits (measured with a questionnaire, at age 45). We found that higher autistic traits were associated with poorer reports of physical health, and a faster pace of aging. This suggests that both those with autism and those with higher autistic traits may be more likely to experience poorer health outcomes.
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