Older Parents

I noticed after attending our First support group for Autistic parents that all the parents attending were late 30's to early 40's . Has anyone confirmed the statistics that more Children of older parents are Autistic? Was this just a coincidence or is this the national average? Thanks James

there was a lot who-ar a few months ago in the autistic media about older parents

but it is pure speculation,and as far as i know only one survey has been conducted to find out.

But as well as having autistic children myself i also work with children with ASD and there are more younger mums than older so in this case the reply would be no

Autism Research: Older Parents More Likely to Have Autistic Children

A while back, an Israeli study seemed to suggest that older fathers were more likely to have children with autism. That study was significantly flawed, and while it raised media attention it didn't appear to represent a major finding. Now, that research has been supported by a larger, broader study by Kaiser Permanente: Men and women who wait to have babies later in life may increase their children's risk for autism, according to a Kaiser Permanente study featured in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The study investigated 132,844 children born at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in its Northern California region over a five-year period (1995-1999) and identified 593 children who had been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Study results show that a mother's and father's risk of delivering a child with autism steadily increases as they get older. Women ages 40 and older showed a 30 percent increase in risk for having a child with autism (1 in 123), when compared to moms between the ages of 25 and 29 (1 in 156). Men ages 40 and older had up to a 50 percent increased risk of having a child with autism (1 in 116), when compared to their 25- to 29-year-old peers (1 in 176).

Advanced age of mothers has been associated with risk of autism in several, but not all earlier studies, according to study author Lisa A. Croen, PhD, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. The role of a father's age in autism has been less frequently studied, although advanced paternal age has been associated with other adverse reproductive outcomes, including Miscarriage, childhood cancers, autoimmune disorders, schizophrenia and other neuro-psychiatric disorders.

This study seems to be supported by a recent announcement that some cases of autism may be caused by spontaneous mutations in hundreds of different genes: "As men age, there is an increased frequency of new mutations in the cells that go on to become sperm," said Dr. Croen. "These sporadic mutations could be related to autism risk. It is possible that non-genetic factors that are more common in older parents might also account for our findings."

shell mum of 6 four ont he spectrum

Post edited by: spectrummum, at: 09/17/2007 06:59

I have wondered the very same thing that you have observed. Though Shell's experience suggests otherwise. Maybe it is just a coincidence that sometimes older or younger (Ins Shell's case) parents just happen to be in the same area experiencing the same stuff?

For the record, my parent's were twenty five when I was born (I have high functioning autism-as distinct from Asperger's), but were forty three when my brother who has some Asperger's traits, was born. I have a son with some Asperger's traits also and I was in my early twenties when he was born. I think in my case there is an inherited factor and age is irrelevent. There are also siblings with not traits beyond what is 'normal' from both my parents and myself and my husband.

Christine