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September 16, 2022 3:00 p.m

Excerpted from a University of Wisconsin press release
A new, landmark Aging and Autism study examines how differences in aging affect health outcomes for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The study, led by a team of scientists at the University of Utah Health and the Weissman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, seeks to expand on recent research that suggests older adults with ASD may have shorter life spans and more physical and mental health problems. than the general population.
The 5-year, $10 million study is part of a $100 million National Institutes of Health award to support autism spectrum disorder research. Nine Autism Centers of Excellence.
“With this study, we begin to identify aspects of aging that may be separate or unique to ASD,” says Brandon Zielinski, MD, PhD, assistant professor and chief of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine. The University of Utah, who is leading a group of former researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine. “We are trying to find vaccines that differentiate aging in normal individuals from those living with ASD to improve their long-term health in old age.”
Aging and early death in autistic people are both complex and urgent issues, according to the researchers, the field deserves attention. They hope their findings will help improve the long-term health outcomes of autistic adults. The team also hopes the research will provide insight into early and/or accelerated aging in people with autism.
We are trying to find injections in normal individuals that differentiate them from those with ASD.
“In addition to tracking normal age-related brain changes, this study allows us to shed light on the brain mechanisms underlying the major neurodegenerative disorders known in ASD,” he says. Jess King, Ph.D.; Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences and Director of the Brain Network Lab at the University of Utah.
Having a multidisciplinary team of experts from different institutions is essential to addressing the complex and multifaceted nature of aging and autism. The research team will collect data on physical and mental health, lifestyle, cognitive abilities, and brain structure and function in adults with and without autism.
“Some adults with ASD are healthy. The goal of the study is to improve the long-term health of autistic adults by understanding support resistance and aging-related changes,” said Janet Leinhart, MD, principal investigator and psychiatrist and professor of public health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine.
The study will be one of the largest longitudinal cohort studies of autistic adults to date. The researchers established autistic male and female adults aged 20 to 65 years and older and age- and gender-matched non-autistic adults and followed them for two to three years over a period of five years from the time of the grant and beyond.
This project builds on the Interdisciplinary Science on Autism (ISLA-A) Longitudinal Study of Autism from Childhood to Adulthood, an NIH-funded project that studies how clinical characteristics and brain imaging in individuals with autism change over time in individuals with neurological development.
ISLA-A has been following autism groups for 17 years, many of whom started in childhood and are now adults. Results from this study may identify candidate predictors of aging outcomes for autism and guide the development of interventions and services to improve such outcomes.
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The study, it is called Towards healthy aging in adults with autism: a longitudinal clinical and multimodal brain imaging study. The Weisman Center is a collaboration of investigators with Alexander, Janet Leinhart, MD, principal investigator and psychiatrist and professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health, Lauren Bishop, PhD, associate professor, Sandra Rosenbaum, School of Social Work, and Douglas Dean, PhD. , Assistant Professor, Pediatrics and Medical Physics.
They are collaborating with Brandon Zielinski, MD, PhD, co-PI, director of the University of Florida College of Pediatrics and co-PI, who leads the team of researchers at the University of Utah. Radiology department that includes Jess King, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, Molly Prigge, Ph.D.; Research Associate, June Taylor, PhD, Research Associate Professor, Lubdha Shah, MD, Professor, Jubel Morgan, RN and Carolyn King, CCRP. Kevin Duff, PhD, a clinical neuropsychologist at U Health, is participating in this study.
The research reported in this issue is supported. National Institute of Mental Health under award number R01MH132218 of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. By: Charlene N. Rivera-Bonet
Written by Charlene N. Rivera-Bonnet
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