"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."

"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."

Ariana Eunjung Cha reports for the Washington Post April 5, 2026. [2]