Autism and autistic traits in those who died by suicide in England

Cassidy, Sarah; Au-Yeung, Sheena; Robertson, Ashley; Cogger-Ward, Heather; Richards, Gareth; Allison, Carrie; Bradley, Louise; Kenny, Rebecca; O’Connor, Rory; Mosse, David; Rodgers, Jacqui; Baron-Cohen, Simon

Abstract

Background Autism and autistic traits are risk factors for suicidal behaviour. Aims To explore the prevalence of autism (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in those who died by suicide, and identify risk factors for suicide in this group. Method Stage 1: 372 coroners' inquest records, covering the period 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2017 from two regions of England, were analysed for evidence that the person who died had diagnosed autism or undiagnosed possible autism (elevated autistic traits), and identified risk markers. Stage 2: 29 follow-up interviews with the next of kin of those who died gathered further evidence of autism and autistic traits using validated autism screening and diagnostic tools. Results Stage 1: evidence of autism (10.8%) was significantly higher in those who died by suicide than the 1.1% prevalence expected in the UK general alive population (odds ratio (OR) = 11.08, 95% CI 3.92-31.31). Stage 2: 5 (17.2%) of the follow-up sample had evidence of autism identified from the coroners' records in stage 1. We identified evidence of undiagnosed possible autism in an additional 7 (24.1%) individuals, giving a total of 12 (41.4%); significantly higher than expected in the general alive population (1.1%) (OR = 19.76, 95% CI 2.36-165.84). Characteristics of those who died were largely similar regardless of evidence of autism, with groups experiencing a comparably high number of multiple risk markers before they died. Conclusions Elevated autistic traits are significantly over-represented in those who die by suicide.

Citation

Cassidy, S., Au-Yeung, S., Robertson, A., Cogger-Ward, H., Richards, G., Allison, C., …Baron-Cohen, S. (2022). Autism and autistic traits in those who died by suicide in England. British Journal of Psychiatry, 221(5), 683-691. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2022.21

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 19, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Feb 15, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-11
• Deposit Date: Jan 28, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 16, 2022
• Journal: British Journal of Psychiatry
• Print ISSN: 0007-1250
• Electronic ISSN: 1472-1465
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 221
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 683-691
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2022.21
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7343928
• Publisher URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/autism-and-autistic-traits-in-those-who-died-by-suicide-in-england/04367C4DD9D8B4B3375A0D25C4764A54
• Additional Information: This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.