Around 90% of middle-aged and older autistic adults are undiagnosed in the UK, new review finds

89 to 97 per cent of autistic adults aged 40+ years are undiagnosed in the UK, according to the largest review of its kind

King's College London

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89 to 97 per cent of autistic adults aged 40+ years are undiagnosed in the UK, according to the largest review of its kind which was conducted at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. The review indicated that middle-aged and older autistic adults are facing higher rates of mental and physical health conditions than non-autistic adults of the same age, alongside challenges with employment, relationships and wellbeing.

Although research on ageing in autistic populations has increased nearly fourfold since 2012, only 0.4 per cent of research on autism since 1980 has focused on people in midlife or older age. The researchers collated the research to date and conducted a narrative review to understand whether autistic people have different ageing patterns to the general population.

The review, published in the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, provides a summary of research in this area, highlighting the critical need for more studies to find ways to improve outcomes for this population.

The review was supported by the British Academy and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre. It highlights substantial challenges for autistic adults in midlife and older age across multiple areas, and identifies barriers to receiving appropriate healthcare support in older adulthood.

Over 89 per cent of autistic adults aged 40+ are undiagnosed

Although people do not ‘grow out’ of autism, there is a large discrepancy in diagnosis rates between younger and older generations. The authors of the review re-analysed previous research on UK healthcare record data from 2018 and found that 89 per cent of people age 40-59 years and 97 per cent of people age 60+ are estimated to be undiagnosed.

Dr Gavin Stewart, British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the IoPPN and lead author of the review, said:

“These very high underdiagnosis estimates suggest that many autistic adults will have never been recognised as being autistic, and will have not been offered the right support. This could make them more susceptible to age-related problems, for example being socially isolated and having poorer health.

“The high rates of underdiagnosis also mean that much of our research has systematically overlooked a large proportion of the autistic population, potentially skewing our understanding of how autistic people age, and leaving critical gaps in policy and services.”

Higher risk of almost all physical and mental health conditions

The review emphasised a variety of challenges autistic adults in midlife and older age face. The collated evidence shows that middle-aged and older autistic adults have higher rates of almost all physical and mental health conditions compared to non-autistic adults. These include immune diseases, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, anxiety and depression, as well as conditions associated with older age, such as Parkinson’s disease, cognitive disorders, osteoporosis and arthritis.

Particularly concerning findings indicate that older adults with high autistic traits are six times more likely to experience suicidal ideation, thoughts of self-harm, and self-harm. The collated findings also suggest that autistic adults were four-times as likely to have a diagnosis of early onset dementia compared to non-autistic people. Average life expectancy differed by six years, with autistic people living to age 75 years compared to 81 years for non-autistic people. The authors warn that these figures may be skewed due to high rates of underdiagnoses.

The review noted autistic adults experience barriers to receiving healthcare support, having to navigate systems not designed for them. These barriers included aspects associated with autistic traits, such as communication differences and sensory sensitivities, as well as concerns about continuity of care, uncertainty about which services to access, and limited clinician understanding of autism in adulthood.

In addition to health-related outcomes, poorer outcomes were also seen across employment prior to retirement, relationships and quality of life. There were high rates of social isolation among adults with autism, and the research indicates that strong social support is linked to better quality of life.

Professor Francesca Happé, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the IoPPN and co-author of the review, said:

“Understanding the needs of autistic people as they age is a pressing global public health concern. As autistic people age, the nature of the challenges they face changes. We must adopt a lifespan approach that funds long-term research, integrates tailored healthcare, and expands social supports so that ageing autistic people can live happy and healthy lives.”

The review particularly highlighted a lack of longitudinal research which follows autistic people over time to directly measure effects of ageing. The researchers emphasise that more research is needed to better understand the experiences of autistic people in midlife and older age, with the aim of improving outcomes for autistic adults as they age.

Ends

 

“Ageing across the Autism Spectrum – A narrative review” (Gavin Stewart and Francesca Happé) was published in the Annual Review of Developmental Psychology. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-devpsych-111323-090813.

For more information, please contact Franca Davenport (Senior Communications and Engagement Manager at NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre). Em: franca.davenport@kcl.ac.uk, mob: +44 (0) 7976 918968

Notes to editors

About King’s College London and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience 

King’s College London is amongst the top 35 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2023), and one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities.

With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King’s maintained its sixth position for ‘research power’ in the UK (2021 Research Excellence Framework).

King's has more than 33,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff. The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s is a leading centre for mental health and neuroscience research in Europe. It produces more highly cited outputs (top 1% citations) on psychiatry and mental health than any other centre (SciVal 2021), and on this metric has risen from 16th (2014) to 4th (2021) in the world for highly cited neuroscience outputs. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), 90% of research at the IoPPN was deemed ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ (3* and 4*). World-leading research from the IoPPN has made, and continues to make, an impact on how we understand, prevent and treat mental illness, neurological conditions, and other conditions that affect the brain.

www.kcl.ac.uk/ioppn | Follow @KingsIoPPN on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)

The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:

• Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
• Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
• Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
• Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
• Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
• Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.

NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.

The British Academy

The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. We mobilise these disciplines to understand the world and shape a brighter future. We invest in researchers and projects across the UK and overseas, engage the public with fresh thinking and debates, and bring together scholars, government, business and civil society to influence policy for the benefit of everyone.  

www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk @BritishAcademy_  

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Journal

Annual Review of Developmental Psychology

DOI

10.1146/annurev-devpsych-111323-090813 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Ageing across the Autism Spectrum – A narrative review

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2025

COI Statement

F. H. receives remuneration for sitting on the Research, Innovation, and Development Board for Outcomes First Group and also receives royalties from published books and book chapters. G.R.S. does not have any affiliations, memberships, funding, or financial holdings that might be perceived as affecting the objectivity of this review.

 

Technology to grow semiconductor single crystals at temperatures exceeding 2,200°C

Tohoku University

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The actual furnace used for the new method of crystal growth

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Credit: ©Yuui Yokota et al.

The single crystals currently used in semiconductors, electronic devices, and optical devices can't take the heat. This is because the materials typically used to make them - such as Iridium and Platinum - have a melting point below 2,200 °C. Creating single crystals that can withstand these extreme temperatures is a challenge that has been unmet until now.

Associate Professor Yuui Yokota and Professor Akira Yoshikawa (Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University) have developed a new crystal growth technology using a tungsten (W) crucible that can be used in temperatures over 2,200°C. This crystal growth technology is expected to make significant contributions to the discovery of new materials and the mass-production of oxide single crystals with a higher melting point.

The research was published in Scientific Reports on August 8, 2025.

"The reason tungsten wasn't successful before now is because of its tendency to react with oxide materials," explains Yokota. "It can also get mixed in with the crystal - which contaminates the final product."

The team of researchers developed a new crystal growth technology that suppresses unwanted reactions and contamination. Their research clearly defined the mechanism behind these processes in order to properly put a stop to them. As a result, they have already succeeded in developing high-density single crystals that exceed those of existing scintillators. This finding has significant real world impact that can directly improve the lives of people around the world. For example, these crystals can be applied to a PET device to detect early-stage cancer in a shorter amount of time.

"These are exciting results, because it means we can create a plethora of new materials for a wide range of applications," says Yoshikawa.

This research is expected to help accelerate the development of new functional single crystals that operate above 2,200°C for semiconductors, optical materials, scintillators, and piezoelectric materials. The mass production method is currently under development with the support of The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).

 

Melting points and band gaps of existing oxide, fluoride, and halide scintillator single crystals. The regions where crystal growth is possible using Ir, Pt-Rh, and Pt crucibles are shown. 

 

From left to right: a schematic diagram of the developed new crystal growth technology using W crucible and deoxygenated insulator, and an example of new single crystals. 

Credit

©Yuui Yokota et al.

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-025-12535-0 

Article Title

Growth of complex oxide single crystals with high melting point over 2200 °C using tungsten crucible

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2025

 

Exposing the propaganda of the Christchurch terrorist

The Christchurch terrorist masked his real views, study shows

University of Auckland

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The Christchurch terrorist’s * so-called manifesto wasn’t an honest account of his motives, but a calculated piece of propaganda designed to mislead the public, manipulate emotions and inspire further violence.

These are the findings of a study by Dr Chris Wilson and Michal Dziwulski from the University of Auckland, published recently in the Journal of Threat Assessment and Management.

The study compares the claims the terrorist made in his 74-page manifesto, as well as to the Royal Commission of Inquiry, with hundreds of his more candid posts on extremist online forums like 4chan.

It finds that his public statements, released at the time of his 2019 terrorist attacks on two Christchurch mosques, were deliberately deceptive.

“He sought to present himself as an ordinary individual driven to violence as a last resort, and having abandoned a peaceful solution because of the existential threat posed by immigration,” says Wilson, a senior lecturer in politics and international relations in the University’s Faculty of Arts and Education.

“He claimed he was reluctantly acting on behalf of the White race, seeking revenge for the death of vulnerable members of the group, and even that his mass killing was inspired by a desire to save the environment.”

The study debunks all these claims, and Wilson says these sorts of manifestos should never be treated as straightforward confessions.

“Terrorists’ statements are not honest explanations of their motives,” he says. “They are propaganda, designed to manipulate emotions, gain legitimacy, and inspire others to act.”

In this case, the authors found the manifesto was deliberately deceptive, and by exposing his lies, they hope to help undermine the myth he’s created in some like-minded circles as a type of ‘reluctant warrior,' thereby reducing the risk of copycat attacks.

The terrorist murdered 51 people and injured dozens more while they were at Friday prayers in two Christchurch mosques on 15 March 2019, a day now widely considered to be one of the country’s darkest.

And at almost the same time, he released a manifesto, live-streamed his killings, and sent multiple emails to politicians and media outlets, including to the office of the then prime minister Jacinda Ardern.

This was part of a broader 'campaign of propaganda' designed to maximise his impact and create a mythology around his actions, according to the study.

t identifies five central claims in the propaganda that don’t match the reality of his private online statements, says Wilson.

“He says he wasn’t a frequent user of extremist websites, but in reality, he posted regularly on far-right forum 4chan over a five-year period, openly endorsing racist violence.”

He also said he first sought peaceful, political solutions to immigration before carrying out the massacres, says Wilson, whereas in fact, he’d celebrated terrorist violence years earlier and fantasised about mass killings well before 2017.

“Another of his claims is he wasn’t racist, rather, simply protective of cultural ‘diversity’, but in fact, online posts reveal him to be virulently racist, antisemitic and with a dehumanising attitude towards multiple groups.”

And they found no evidence at all of his claim to be motivated by environmental concerns, Wilson says.

“He referred to himself as an ‘eco-fascist,’ but we found no genuine environmental interest in his private writings; this claim was purely propaganda to broaden his appeal.”

And finally, he outwardly claimed not to seek fame, and yet he carefully staged his attack to gain maximum notoriety, particularly within his online extremist community, preparing his manifesto, video and social media accounts to ensure he would be remembered.

The study shows that the terrorist’s careful image-building has been brutally successful, inspiring several copycat killers overseas who have cited him as a role model.

But by challenging and dismantling the mythology surrounding him, Wilson and Dziwulski say they hope to reduce his ongoing influence.

“While terrorist manifestos can provide some insight into a perpetrator’s worldview, they should be approached with great caution; uncritically repeating their claims risks amplifying their propaganda.”

They believe investigators, journalists and academics need to remember these documents are crafted as part of a communication strategy, just as important to the terrorist as the attack itself.

“We hope by debunking these lies, we will take away the aura that these individuals try to create around themselves.”

Countering the Propaganda of Terrorists: The Deception of Brenton Tarrant by Chris Wilson and Michal Dziwulski was  published online on 9 June 2025 in the Journal of Threat Assessment and Management.

*Beyond the name of the study itself, the authors have agreed not to name the terrorist in any media about it out of respect for the families affected by 15 March 2019.

 

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Journal

Journal of Threat Assessment

DOI

10.1037/tam0000252 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Countering the propaganda of terrorists: The deception of Brenton Tarrant

 

Discovery of whale feeding zone triggers call for protection

New Zealand's southern right whales, or tohorā, are keen on a zone south of Australia that needs protecting

University of Auckland

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Satellite tracking of New Zealand southern right whales, or tohorā, has revealed a key feeding location about 500kms south of Australia that needs to be protected, University of Auckland scientists say.

Scientists tracked 25 tohorā from the subantarctic Maungahuka/Auckland Islands as the whales travelled through the Southern Ocean in a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Conservation.

“It turned out that one destination was by far the most popular,” says Dr Leena Riekkola, a Rutherford Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Biological Sciences, who was the lead author of the research paper. “Ninety percent of the whales travelled to a zone south of Australia, rich in prey, where different waters converge.”

Protecting the zone would help to extend that rarest thing: a conservation success story. After dwindling to as few as 400 individuals early last century because of whaling, southern right whales now number around 15,000 globally.

“This work highlights why this region should be a marine protected area under the High Seas Treaty,” says Dr Emma Carroll, the senior author of the study. “Other animals like seabirds, sharks, and seals all rely on it, too.”

The High Seas Treaty – formally known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction Agreement – will let nations propose areas where fishing and other activities are limited. It will come into force once more nations have signed up.

“Once ratified, this treaty could provide a way of protecting these critical feeding areas for whales, but also seabirds, seals, fish and sharks,” says Riekkola.

The area south of Australia stretches over 2,000km in an east-west direction and about 1,000km north-south and key feeding areas are near the Subtropical Front, which is a boundary between warm, salty subtropical waters and cooler Antarctic waters.

The zone is a destination for the whales from October to January, while they winter at the Maungahuka/Auckland Islands.

Fifteen Australian whales tracked in the study had more diverse foraging grounds, leading scientists to ponder whether they will be better at adapting to the inevitable shifts in prey locations because of climate change.

The research was funded by Royal Society Te Apārangi Rutherford Discovery and Postdoctoral Fellowships, Live Ocean, Lou and Iris Fisher Charitable Trust, Joyce Fisher Charitable Trust, Brian Sheth/Sangreal Foundation, UOA Science Faculty Research Development Fund, International Whaling Commission – Southern Ocean Research Partnership, Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, DOC, the Cawthron Institute, Marine Predator Research Group at Macquarie University, and the Rae Family Foundation to UWA.
 

 

 

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Journal

Global Ecology and Conservation

DOI

10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03788 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Large-scale differences, mesoscale similarities: Neighbouring marine predator populations provide insights into Southern Ocean productivity

Article Publication Date

1-Oct-2025

 

Probability theorem gets quantum makeover after 250 years

An international team finds a quantum equivalent of Bayes’ rule

National University of Singapore

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What would Thomas Bayes think? In 1763, he proposed a new approach to calculate probabilities. An international team has now updated his ideas to deliver a quantum Bayes' rule.

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Credit: Centre for Quantum Technologies

How likely you think something is to happen depends on what you already believe about the circumstances. That is the simple concept behind Bayes’ rule, an approach to calculating probabilities, first proposed in 1763. Now, an international team of researchers has shown how Bayes’ rule operates in the quantum world. 
 
“I would say it is a breakthrough in mathematical physics,” said Professor Valerio Scarani, Deputy Director and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Quantum Technologies, and member of the team. His co-authors on the work published on 28 August 2025 in Physical Review Letters are Assistant Professor Ge Bai at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in China, and Professor Francesco Buscemi at Nagoya University in Japan. 

“Bayes’ rule has been helping us make smarter guesses for 250 years. Now we have taught it some quantum tricks,” said Prof Buscemi.

While researchers before them had proposed quantum analogues for Bayes’ rule, they are the first to derive a quantum Bayes’ rule from a fundamental principle.  

Conditional probability 

Bayes’ rule is named for Thomas Bayes, who first defined his rules for conditional probabilities in ‘An Essay Towards Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances’.  

Consider a case in which a person tests positive for flu. They may have suspected they were sick, but this new information would change how they think about their health. Bayes’ rule provides a method to calculate the probability of flu conditioned not only on the test result and the chances of the test giving a wrong answer, but also on the individual’s initial beliefs. 

Bayes’ rule interprets probabilities as expressing degrees of belief in an event. This has been long debated, since some statisticians think that probabilities should be “objective” and not based on beliefs. However, in situations where beliefs are involved, Bayes’ rule is accepted as a guide for reasoning. This is why it has found widespread use from medical diagnosis and weather prediction to data science and machine learning. 

Principle of minimum change 

When calculating probabilities with Bayes’ rule, the principle of minimum change is obeyed. Mathematically, the principle of minimum change minimises the distance between the joint probability distributions of the initial and updated belief. Intuitively, this is the idea that for any new piece of information, beliefs are updated in the smallest possible way that is compatible with the new facts. In the case of the flu test, for example, a negative test would not imply that the person is healthy, but rather that they are less likely to have the flu. 

In their work, Prof Scarani, who is also from NUS Department of Physics, Asst Prof Bai, and Prof Buscemi began with a quantum analogue to the minimum change principle. They quantified change in terms of quantum fidelity, which is a measure of the closeness between quantum states.  

Researchers always thought a quantum Bayes’ rule should exist because quantum states define probabilities. For example, the quantum state of a particle provides the probability of it being found at different locations. The goal is to determine the whole quantum state, but the particle is only found at one location when a measurement is performed. This new information will then update the belief, boosting the probability around that location.  

The team derived their quantum Bayes’ rule by maximising the fidelity between two objects that represent the forward and the reverse process, in analogy with a classical joint probability distribution. Maximising fidelity is equivalent to minimising change. They found in some cases their equations matched the Petz recovery map, which was proposed by Dénes Petz in the 1980s and was later identified as one of the most likely candidates for the quantum Bayes’ rule based just on its properties.  

“This is the first time we have derived it from a higher principle, which could be a validation for using the Petz map,” said Prof Scarani. The Petz map has potential applications in quantum computing for tasks such as quantum error correction and machine learning. The team plans to explore whether applying the minimum change principle to other quantum measures might reveal other solutions. 

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Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/5n4p-bxhm 

Article Title

Quantum Bayes’ Rule and Petz Transpose Map from the Minimum Change Principle

Article Publication Date

28-Aug-2025