Age matters
The California research suggests that a father’s age matters most when the mother is younger.
With mothers under 25 years old, over-40 fathers sired twice as many autistic children as did 20-something dads.
Published 23:23, February the 8th, 2010
Study: Autism risk increases with mom’s age
New research suggests that a couple’s risk of having a child with autism increases with the parents’ age — especially the mother’s. However, the report — published yesterday in the February issue of the Autism Research journal — also stresses the low-risk factor for autism in general.
According to researchers, mothers older than 40 were nearly 50 percent more likely to give birth to an autistic child, when compared with mothers in their 20s. Similarly, fathers older than 40 had a risk level some 36 percent higher than 20-something dads.
“Although fathers’ age can contribute risk, the risk is overwhelmed by maternal age,” said study author Janie Shelton, a researcher with University of California at Davis. Scientists believe that older mothers face higher risks of birthing children with genetic disorders; and that autism is somehow inherited through the genes
To reach their conclusions, researchers studied 10 years of California hospital records — including 5.6 million births, and more than 13,000 autism diagnoses during that time. Data show that around 1 in 100 children born in the United States are diagnosed with autism.
