Posted on 09/05/2006 7:13:51 AM PDT by ZGuy
Children with older fathers have a significantly increased risk of having autism, a study has concluded. The UK and US researchers examined data on 132,271 children and said those born to men over 40 were six times more at risk than those born to men under 30.
They said the study in Archives of General Psychiatry was further proof men also had "biological clocks".
One UK expert said the study could be important in understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying autism.
Autism and related conditions, known as autism spectrum disorders, have become increasingly common, affecting 50 in every 10,000 children as compared with five in 10,000 two decades ago.
Increased awareness and changes in the way the disorders are diagnosed are thought to play a major role in the increase, but the researchers say it may also be linked to other changing factors.
Older parental age has previously been linked to abnormalities in the brain development of children.
Genetic fault
The researchers, from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, looked at data on 132,271 children born in Israel during the 1980s.
All men, and three-quarters of women born in these years were assessed by the draft board at age 17, during which time any disorders were recorded.
The board also took information on the ages of their father and mother, and took into account factors such as year of birth and socioeconomic status.
Among those whose fathers were between 15 and 29 when they were born, the rate of autism was six in every 10,000, rising to nine in every 10,000 when fathers were aged 30 to 39 (1.6 times higher).
In the group whose fathers were aged 40 to 49, the rate rose to 32 in 10,000 (5.75 times higher).
The rate appeared to be even higher when fathers were aged over 50, but the researchers said the sample size was very small.
The mother's age did not appear to influence the chances a child would have autism.
The researchers suggest there may be a genetic fault which is more common with age.
This might be spontaneous mutations in sperm-producing cells or alterations in genetic "imprinting," which affects gene expression.
'Convincing evidence'
The team, led by Dr Avi Reichenberg from the IoP, said: "It is important to keep in mind that age at paternity is influenced by the socio-cultural environment and varies across societies and over time.
"In a given population, a change in the socio-cultural environment could produce a change in paternal age at birth.
"In theory, it could thereby lead to a change in the incidence of genetic causes of autism."
He added: "Although further work is necessary to confirm this interpretation, we believe that our study provides the first convincing evidence that advanced paternal age is a risk factor for autism spectrum disorder."
Professor Simon Baron Cohen, of the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, said: "The finding of a significant association with advancing paternal age is one that should be straightforward to test in other samples, to see if this result from a purely Israeli sample generalises to other populations.
"If confirmed, it could have important implications for the genetic mechanisms underlying autism."
LOL!
Why are you assuming that if the father is over 60, the mother can't be under 40?
Yes, you may be correct. That's the intersting thing about this that I didn't see in the study. What were the ages of the women. Chances are that if the man is older that his spouse is also. How did they control for the age of the woman?
My Dad was 51 when I came along, and aside from a distinctively cantankerous nature, I'm fine.
When you say you're on the spectrum, does that mean you've been diagnosed with tendancies or a very mild case?
I wonder if the issue is really smart people having babies.
All the parents I know who have a child with autism are both professionals --- docotrs, lawyers, engineers, or the like.
Kind of a "too much of a good thing" issue.
There would also (generally) be older parents, given their education, and hence this corrolation.
Of course, it could just be because the only people I hang out with are professionals.
Odds.
My two friends with autistic children are an analyst with the NSA, and a computer programmer.
There was an article in "Wired" magazine five years ago that speculated on the exact same thing as you:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aspergers_pr.html
There is more evidence that mercury in vaccines is the culprit. In fact you can google a large study in England and many in the U.S. that are extremely compelling.
I personally have a friend who has 3 autistic children. (Can you imagine?) Their doctor, who happens to be one of the better specialist's in this field, said that the vaccine plus an IV given to the oldest contributed excessive mercury at a young age. The other two have been found to have an unusual sensitivity to metals.
One study in the U.S., examined Amish children who, as a rule, are not vaccinated. Not one case of autism in this population.
"Amish children who, as a rule, are not vaccinated. Not one case of autism in this population."
Well, the Amish are also a small, largely closed, genetic pool, that is, by definition, non-technical.
I think studies would show that autism is higher among couples with higher IQ's.
Without the raw data, that's impossible.
A good indication of an agenda, however, is the built-in gap left undiscussed for men between 30 and 40...
Why not, for instance graph the continuous age spectrum? Did they find gaps or discontinuities?
Well, in looking at anything you have to look at biases - one thing schools don't do that they should is teach kids how to examine a "study" to see if it's flawed.
If Autism is indeed largely genetic (and frankly, I think the evidence is overwhelming that it is, but parents of autistic children just don't want to hear it) as noted previously it's possible the Amish simply don't have the gene and they marry each other.
On the other hand, to be fair, clearly the more intelligent parents are the more likely (in general) they are to have a higher income and the more likely it is their child will be diagnosed as autistic. Lower income parents with an autistic child are more likely to simply never have the child diagnosed, or diagnosed simply as retarded.
The study was compared to a population of poverty level childen in Chicago who also were not vaccinated. The findings correlated. No autism in the Chicago population.
The study in England was much larger and more definitive.
Arbitrary.
Among those whose fathers were between 15 and 29 when they were born, the rate of autism was six in every 10,000, rising to nine in every 10,000 when fathers were aged 30 to 39 (1.6 times higher).
In the group whose fathers were aged 40 to 49, the rate rose to 32 in 10,000 (5.75 times higher).
___________
Did you miss the stats for the 30-39 year old group. They are listed in the original article for all to see.
Of course, the supporters of junk science, here, will claim that there are no Amish fathers over 35...
< /sarc >
I've often wondered if perhaps this will lead to a dumbing down of the population in general. This genetic damage is passed down by smarter, more affluent people, and causes fertility, survivability, and breedability problems. Whereas the "dumber" folks who breed early, have healthy offspring with no breeding problems.
Just idle speculation, and a note, I am NOT saying ALL older parents are smart, or that ALL young parents are dumb, of course.
My bad.
I am headed there now, but I am not so much interested in the complete summary as I am in detailed description of the methodology, sample size, control groups, confounding factors, etc.
Facts only confuse their theories so they are forced to ignore facts.
I was actually diagnosed with asperger's at 16. Autism, like many neurological disorders have what you can call a "spectrum", meaning you have your mild cases that are barely noticeable and could be a different disorder in itself to the very severe. I have Asperger's, which is on the high end of the spectrum (Hence, why we're speaking).
PM me if you want to talk more about it.
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