Study finds higher Parkinsonism diagnosis rates among older adults with autism

A study found a higher prevalence of Parkinsonism diagnoses among adults with autism than among a general-population control group, according to the New York Post. The analysis covered adults aged 45 and older and also reported rates for people with intellectual disabilities, including those diagnosed with both autism and an intellectual disability.

Researchers analyzed Medicare and Medicaid claims data covering nearly 57 million adults from 2017 through 2019. The New York Post reported that the prevalence of Parkinsonism was roughly 1.57% in the general-population control group. Among adults with autism alone, the reported figure was 3.83%.

The study reported a prevalence of 4.32% among adults with an intellectual disability alone. For adults diagnosed with both autism and an intellectual disability, the figure was 4.86%. These percentages describe the groups in the claims analysis; the article characterizes them as prevalence figures.

Researchers excluded people who took antipsychotics, the New York Post reported, to examine whether medication effects explained the association. The article does not give a separate prevalence result for people who took those medications or describe what the exclusion changed in the findings. The study appeared in the journal Autism.

Greg Wallace, identified as the lead author and a professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., commented on the results in a press release.

Wallace called the research an important contribution and said the increased rates among autistic people in middle and older adulthood suggest the cases are not simply a byproduct of lifelong motor challenges.

The New York Post reported his statement; the study’s specific methods beyond the claims-data analysis and medication exclusion, and any additional interpretation from the researchers, are not described in the article.