Mortality rate and age of death among Medicare-enrolled autistic older adults

•We examined mortality rate among autistic and non-autistic older adults.•Autistic older adults had 2.87 times greater rate of mortality.•39.6 % of autistic and 15.1 % of non-autistic people died during the study period.•Median age of death was similar for autistic and non-autistic decedents.•When autistic people live to age 65, they may live to a similar age as non-autistic peers.