Death rates higher in persons having both autism and epilepsy

 A new study found that people with both autism and epilepsy have a much higher death rate than those with autism alone.

It found that 39% of the confirmed cases of autism from a postmortem brain tissue donation program also had a confirmed diagnosis of epilepsy, which is significantly higher than the estimated rate of epilepsy among the general autism population.

The study also reported that data from the California State Department of Developmental Services demonstrated a higher than expected rate of mortality in individuals with autism and epilepsy than autism alone.

It concluded that when epilepsy and autism occurred together, the mortality rates increased by more than 800%.

"This study highlights the importance of early identification of epilepsy in children with autism and of autism in children with epilepsy," said Roberto Tuchman, pediatric neurologist at Miami Children's Hospital.

The study was published in the Journal of Child Neurology.