Multimorbidity patterns and subgroups among autistic adults with intellectual disability: Results from the EFAAR study.

Researchers studied 63 autistic adults with intellectual disability to understand their health patterns. They found that these individuals often have multiple health conditions at an early age, particularly problems with their immune system, gut, brain, and joints. The study identified four different groups based on health conditions and independence levels. The findings suggest that gut and brain health are closely connected in autism, and that personalized healthcare approaches may be needed.

This preliminary study examined multimorbidity patterns in 63 autistic adults with intellectual disability from the EFAAR study. Researchers identified four distinct subgroups based on multimorbidity status, independence levels, and number of treatments. The study found high rates of early multimorbidity, with a dominant pattern combining immune dysfunction, gastrointestinal disorders, neurological conditions, and joint diseases. These findings suggest altered gut-brain relationships may contribute to autism risk and chronic health conditions.

The research indicates that autistic adults with intellectual disability may have different aging trajectories based on their multimorbidity patterns, supporting the need for personalized healthcare approaches to improve quality of life and life expectancy.

Findings suggest autistic adults with intellectual disability may benefit from personalized healthcare approaches targeting gut-brain-immune connections. Early identification of multimorbidity patterns could inform preventive strategies and improve care coordination across multiple health domains.

Small preliminary study with only 63 participants. Authors acknowledge larger studies are needed. Study type and methodology details not clearly specified in abstract. Limited generalizability due to small sample size and preliminary nature.

Multimorbidity relates to having multiple chronic health conditions. It is a risk factor for poor health and reduces life expectancy. Autistic people have multiple chronic health conditions and die prematurely, especially if they have an intellectual disability (autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability). Certain pathophysiological processes observed in autism spectrum disorder are common to those related to the genesis and/or maintenance of multimorbidity.

Furthermore, multimorbidity could be helpful in better identifying patient subgroups in autism spectrum disorder. It is therefore essential to better characterize multimorbidity and its consequences in the subgroup of autism spectrum disorder + intellectual disability individuals to offer them personalized care. We conducted a preliminary study of 63 autism spectrum disorder + intellectual disability adults to classify them according to their multimorbidity and search for a specific combination of chronic health conditions. We observed high and early multimorbidity in this sample and identified four classes of participants, distinguished by their multimorbidity status, independence and number of treatments.

In addition, we observed a dominant combination of multimorbidity in our sample, combining immune dysfunction and gastrointestinal disorders, neurological and joint diseases. These findings support the hypothesis that an altered gut-brain relationship is involved in the risk of autism spectrum disorder, its outcome, and its association with chronic health conditions. Although larger studies are needed, our results suggest that subgroups of autism spectrum disorder + intellectual disability individuals can be identified based on their multimorbidity and potentially different ageing trajectories. A more comprehensive and personalized approach is needed to reduce the burden of multimorbidity and increase the quality of life and life expectancy in autism spectrum disorder/ intellectual disability.