Surprising links between autism, Alzheimer's could change how we treat both

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What if autism and Alzheimer’s come from the same place? (Emma Kumer/The Washington Post; iStock)

The idea that two conditions at opposite ends of life might be biologically linked is beginning to upend long-standing assumptions in brain science, blurring a divide that has shaped the field.

Today at 6:51 a.m. EDT

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Joseph Buxbaum was initially unconvinced. When early hints of a connection between autism and Alzheimer’s began to appear in the medical literature a few years ago, they struck him as implausible — one a condition of early brain development, the other driving decline in old age.

But the signals kept accumulating, and over time, his skepticism gave way to a new line of inquiry that could transform scientists’ understanding of the two diseases.

“I came to this kicking and screaming. I didn’t want to believe it,” said Buxbaum, a professor of psychiatry, neuroscience and genetics/genomic sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Autism has long been treated almost exclusively as a childhood condition, with little attention paid to how it evolves with age. First formally recognized as a distinct diagnosis in 1980, it went largely unidentified in older generations. Only recently — as awareness grew and the first large diagnosed cohort reaches middle age — have researchers begun to study autistic adults in later life.
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