Lives Lost to Autism: Tuscon, Arizona: 5 Year old boy drowns in a golf course pond

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Tuscon, Arizona: 5 Year old boy drowns in a golf course pond

Autistic boy drowns in Tucson pond

Aug. 19, 2010 05:05 PM
Associated Press

TUCSON - A 5-year-old autistic boy has drowned in a pond at a Tucson golf course.

Authorities say the boy was pulled from the pond at the Santa Rita Golf Course on Thursday afternoon.

The victim and his family live in a home near the golf course and the boy apparently wandered away from the house sometime before 1 p.m.

The boy's father called 911 to report him missing. Pima County Sheriff's deputies arrived in the area and began searching for the boy and he was found by deputies in the golf course pond.

Deputies begin CPR on the boy until paramedics arrived. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The name of the victim has not been released yet.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/08/19/20100819tucson-autistic-boy-drowns-in-pond.html#ixzz0xAfPJAhD

Causes of Death in Autism

Robert M. Shavelle, David J. Strauss and Jane Pickett

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Volume 31, Number 6, 569-576, DOI: 10.1023/A:1013247011483

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine which causes of death are more frequent in persons with autism, and by how much, compared with the general population. Subjects were 13,111 ambulatory Californians with autism, followed between 1983 and 1997. The units of study were person-years, each linked to the subject''s age, sex, and cause of death (if any) for the specific year. Observed numbers of cause-specific deaths were compared with numbers expected according to general population mortality rates. Standardized mortality rates (SMRs) were computed for each mental retardation level. Elevated death rates were observed for several causes, including seizures and accidents such as suffocation and drowning; elevated mortality due to respiratory disease was observed among persons with severe mental retardation. Overall, excess mortality was especially marked for persons with severe mental retardation, but life expectancy is reduced even for persons who are fully ambulatory and who have only mild mental retardation.

Mortality and causes of death in autism spectrum disorders: an update.

Autism. 2008 Jul;12(4):403-14.

Mouridsen SE, Brønnum-Hansen H, Rich B, Isager T.

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. sem01@bbh.hosp.dk

Abstract

This study compared mortality among Danish citizens with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) with that of the general population. A clinical cohort of 341 Danish individuals with variants of ASD, previously followed over the period 1960-93, now on average 43 years of age, were updated with respect to mortality and causes of death. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for various times after diagnosis. In all, 26 persons with ASD had died, whereas the expected number of deaths was 13.5. Thus the mortality risk among those with ASD was nearly twice that of the general population. The SMR was particularly high in females. The excess mortality risk has remained unchanged since our first study in 1993. Eight of the 26 deaths were associated with epilepsy and four died from epilepsy. Future staff education should focus on better managing of the complex relationships between ASD and physical illness to prevent avoidable deaths.

PMID: 18579647 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]