{"id":2556,"date":"2022-08-30T02:00:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T06:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mind-test.org\/blog\/?p=2556"},"modified":"2022-08-13T08:29:39","modified_gmt":"2022-08-13T12:29:39","slug":"study-parental-age-and-risk-of-autism-in-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mind-test.org\/blog\/autism\/study-parental-age-and-risk-of-autism-in-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: parental age and risk of autism in children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Children of teenage mothers, women and men over 40, and partners with a large age gap between them are more likely to have autism spectrum disorders, reports Molecular Psychiatry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

An international study of more than 5.5 million children (approximately 30,000 diagnosed with autism<\/a>) born between 1985 and 2004 in Denmark, Israel, Norway, Sweden and Australia has found that parental age is a significant risk factor for developing autism spectrum disorders.<\/p>\n

A team of researchers funded by the US organisation Autism Speaks found that children who were conceived by men over the age of 40 were 28 per cent more likely to have autism, and 66 per cent more likely to be conceived by fathers in their 50s than by men choosing to have children in their 20s.<\/p>\n

It turns out that the advanced or too young age of mothers is also a disadvantage. Women who give birth after the age of 40 face a 15 per cent increased risk of autism among their children compared to ladies who give birth in their twenties. In teenage mothers, the risk is 18 per cent higher.<\/p>\n

Children are also more likely to suffer from autism if there is a large age difference between their parents. The riskiest combination is a father aged 35-44 and a mother 10 or more years younger. However, the likelihood of autism is also higher if a woman in her 30s decides to have a child with a man much younger than herself.<\/p>\n

The higher risk of autism in children for fathers over 50 is linked to genetic mutations occurring in the sperm. It is not known why an advanced age of the mother or a large age difference between mother and father also correlates with an increased likelihood of the disease.<\/p>\n

Although the age of the parents is an important risk factor when it comes to developing autism, we must remember that most children born to older or younger parents develop completely normally, concludes study co-author Dr Sven Sandin from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.<\/p>\n

\n

Source<\/p>\n