The symptoms of infantile autism were first described almost 60 years ago.
In contrast to its course in puberty and adolescence, follow-up-data on the
late course in adulthood are decidedly sparse. As the outcome of research
in the literature, we found 21 methodologically heterogeneous follow-up-stu
dies, The arithmetic mean age of all subjects investigated was 24.0 years.
The results are supplemented by various case reports and sporadic biographi
cal reports by affected persons. On the basis of the available data, the di
scontinuous and dynamic changes of course verified in puberty and adolescen
ce are not applicable to the third and fourth decades to the same extent. G
ains in competence and autonomy appear to develop in the vocational rather
than in the domestic sphere. The significantly more favorable courses of th
e form described by Asperger are continued in adulthood, The disorder-assoc
iated lack of empathy and social interaction is by no means experienced in
terms of self-satisfaction by those concerned but rather as a loss. Interpe
rsonal sexual needs are expressed by a substantial proportion of autistic a
dults. The cumulative mortality rates of the follow-up-studies suggest that
the mortality rate among autistic patients is higher than among their non-
autistic peers.