Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is formally diagnosed before the age of 3 that is, when the central nervous system (CNS) is not yet completely formed, but it is mature enough to generate behavioural abnormalities in some individuals when compared to an agematched group of typically developed children [1,2]. However, ASD is not a life-threating disease and children diagnosed with ASD age at the same rate as their peers. The possible detrimental or beneficial factors associated with aging in children affected by ASD are not fully known. Surprisingly, the amount of peer-reviewed medical and scientific international literature published on the topic of aging with autism is quite modest and sporadic [3]. The scarcity of aging-ASD investigations derives from the lower level of attention, and related funding opportunities, from the major public and private funding agencies for research across the globe. This scientific and funding gap is particularly surprising when considering two aspects: on one side, the marked increasing of elder populations across the globe, and on the other side, the improvement of the criteria and diagnostic tools to diagnose ASD, which has determined indeed a real increase of the rate of children diagnosed with ASD (https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data. html).