@article{ref1,
title="Mortality and causes of death in pervasive developmental disorders",
journal="Autism",
year="1999",
author="Isager, T. and Mouridsen, S.E. and Rich, B.",
volume="3",
number="1",
pages="7-16",
abstract="In the present study, we rediagnosed and followed a clinical sample of 341 children with related pervasive developmental disorders for an average of 24 years (current mean age of 31 years; range 14-48 years). Twelve patients had died. For the whole group crude mortality was 3.5 percent (95 percent Confidence Interval 1.8-6.1 percent). The standardized mortality ratio was 1.9 (95 percent Confidence Interval 1.0-3.4). For the diagnostic subgroups crude mortality was: infantile autism 3.4 percent, autistic-like conditions 3.4 percent, borderline childhood psychosis 2.5 percent and disintegrative psychosis 15.4 percent. Mortality was related to intelligence in a U-shaped fashion, with both severe retardation and normal intelligence being associated with a relatively high risk of death. The distribution between natural causes and unnatural causes of death (accidents, suicide) resembled the pattern seen in a background population of adolescents and younger adults. Five of the 12 deaths were related to epilepsy.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1362-3613",
doi="10.1177/1362361399003001002",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1362361399003001002"
}