From Deseret News archives:
Study links older dads, high autism rates
The research involved about 130,000 Israeli Jews born in the 1980s. Those fathered by older men were almost six times more likely to have autism or related disorders than those fathered by men younger than 30, and more than 1 1/2 times more likely than children fathered by men ages 30-39.
The mothers' age at childbirth appeared to have little impact on autism, although the researchers said they couldn't rule out "a possible small effect" from the oldest mothers.
Autism experts called the study intriguing but not definitive, and the authors said the results need to be tested in a broader population to see if similar findings would occur in other ethnic groups.
It's not the first time fathers' age has been implicated in autism, but the new research stands out because "it's a strong effect in a carefully designed study," said Dr. Edwin Cook, an autism researcher at University of Illinois-Chicago who was not involved in the study.
The study was released Monday in September's Archives of General Psychiatry.
Lead author Abraham Reichenberg, a researcher at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, called it the first rigorous population-based study to investigate whether a father's age affects the risk of a child developing autism. Researchers from Columbia University and Israeli institutions including Chaim Sheba Medical Center and Hebrew University participated in the research.
Previous research by some of the same authors linked advanced paternal age with lower intelligence scores and with schizophrenia.
Other studies have shown that sperm mutate more often in older men, potentially leading to increased risk for brain abnormalities in their children.
"It's a very interesting, strong study," said Dr. Fred Volkmar, an autism researcher at Yale University who was not involved in the research.
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