It is the age of the father, not the mother, that is a factor in increasing a child’s risk of autism. This is because the number of genetic mutations in sperm increases with age, a study reported in the journal Nature has found.
As Kari Stefansson of the deCODE Genetics institute in Reykjavik points out, despite previously popular assumptions that the risk of developmental disorders in a child increases with the age of the mother, it is men who pass on more genetic mutations.
Stefansson’s team sequenced the genomes of 78 families in which offspring were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia.
The researchers noted that the older the father, the greater the chance of gene variants that can lead to the aforementioned disorders in the offspring – with an average of two mutations added each year. For women, on the other hand, the number of mutations inherited by the child was not age-dependent. However, it should be noted that genetic factors can only explain about 10 per cent of autism cases.
Although the researchers cannot say when men may start to worry about this correlation (mainly due to the large number of other factors, including environmental factors, affecting the child’s health), the findings agree with the results published in April by US researchers, which show that the risk of the father passing on harmful mutations is four times higher than that of the mother.
Recent decades have seen an increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, due in part to better diagnostic tools and greater public awareness. It is estimated that 1 in 88 children in the United States suffer from the disorder, and 1 in 100 in Europe. (PAP)
Source
- https://www.medonet.pl/zdrowie/wiadomosci,wiek-ojca-zwiazany-z-ryzykiem-autyzmu-u-dziecka,artykul,1665992.html
