|
|
|
|
|
|
Study: Moms Over 40 Nearly Twice As Likely To Have Autistic Children
by Thomas H. Maugh II
February 08 |
|
|
 |
Women who give birth after age 40 are nearly twice as likely to have a child with autism as those under 25, California researchers reported Monday.
Surprisingly, the age of the father plays little role in the likelihood of the disorder unless the mother is younger than 30 and the father is over 40, according to the analysis of all births in California in the 1990s.
The number of women over age 40 in California giving birth increased by 300% in the 1990s, while the diagnosis of autism increased by 600%. At first glance, it might seem that the rise in older pregnancies could be responsible for the rise in autism, which is now thought to affect as many as one child in every hundred. But the authors of the paper, from UC Davis, calculate that older mothers account for less than 5% of the increase in autism diagnoses.
"There is a long history of blaming parents" for the development of autism, said Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto of the UC Davis MIND Institute, the senior author of the report. "We're not saying this is the fault of mothers or fathers. We're just saying this is a correlation that will direct research in the future."
Researchers have long known that the age of the parents plays a role in the risk of developing autism, but how big a role and how that role varies with the sex of the parent has remained confusing, with contradictory results reported in different studies.
Because of the large sample size, they were able to show how the likelihood of autism was affected by each parent's age. They reported in the journal Autism Research that women over 40 were 77% more likely to deliver an autistic child than those younger than 25 and 51% more likely than those aged 25 to 29, independent of the age of the father.
Do you have a news worthy story that you would like to see posted at YourCause.com? Write to us at info@yourcause.com.
Related Charities:
|
| The content published and opinions expressed at YourCause.com does not necessarily represent a statement or position by any employee of YourCause, LLC. All content is intended to inform and educate readers on a variety of events, deemed newsworthy, taking place throughout our world. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
