SchaferAutismReport: Study: Moms Over 40 Nearly Twice As Likely To Have Autistic Children

[Guest guest]

Read

this report online

Large text, printer version

Monday, February 8, 2010p

Reader Supported

April

is Autism Awareness Month

Promote your Fundraiser Now!

AUTISM CALENDAR DEADLINE

February 25 !

For March 2010

Submit listing here

free!

RESEARCH

Study: Moms Over 40

Nearly Twice As Likely To Have Autistic Children

The study of California births finds that in most cases, the father's age

plays little role in the likelihood of the disorder.

By H. Maugh II, LA Times. is.gd/7XzkW

Women who give birth after age 40

are nearly twice as likely to have a child with autism as those under 25,

California researchers reported Monday.

Surprisingly, the age of the father plays

little role in the likelihood of the disorder unless the mother is younger

than 30 and the father is over 40, according to

Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto of the UC MIND Institute

the analysis of all births in

California in the 1990s.

The number of women over age 40 in

California giving birth increased by 300% in the 1990s, while the diagnosis

of autism increased by 600%. At first glance, it might seem that the rise in

older pregnancies could be responsible for the rise in autism, which is now

thought to affect as many as one child in every hundred. But the authors of

the paper, from UC , calculate that older mothers account for less than

5% of the increase in autism diagnoses.

" There is a long history of blaming

parents " for the development of autism, said Dr. Irva Hertz-Picciotto of

the UC MIND Institute, the senior author of the report. " We're not

saying this is the fault of mothers or fathers. We're just saying this is a

correlation that will direct research in the future. "

Researchers have long known that the age of

the parents plays a role in the risk of developing autism, but how big a role

and how that role varies with the sex of the parent has remained confusing,

with contradictory results reported in different studies.

To investigate, Hertz-Picciotto, Janie E.

Shelton and J. Tancredi analyzed all the singleton births in California

during the 1990s for which information was available about the ages of both

parents, a total of about 4.9 million births and 12,529 cases of autism.

Because of the large sample size, they were

able to show how the likelihood of autism was affected by each parent's age.

They reported in the journal Autism Research that women over 40 were 77% more

likely to deliver an autistic child than those younger than 25 and 51% more

likely than those aged 25 to 29, independent of the age of the father.

For men over 40, there was a 59% increased

risk of autism if the mother was younger than 30, but virtually no increased

risk if the mother was over 30.

The researchers also calculated that the

recent

For rest of today's SAR click here:

www.sarnet.org/frm/forsar.htm

Today's SAR newslist

is human compiled and provided through the support of

paid subscriptions.

- THANK YOU -

$35 for 1 year - or free!

www.sarnet.org

In This

Issue:

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

RESEARCH

Study: Moms Over 40 Nearly Twice As Likely To Have Autistic Children

Autism Risk Rises With Mother's Age The Older the Mother, the Higher Her

Child's Autism Risk

TREATMENT

When to Worry if a Child Has Too Few Words

Comparison of Data Collection Methods in a Behavioral Intervention Program

MEDIA

An Emmy for Danes in 'Temple Grandin'?

PUBLIC HEALTH

Ethics Debate Over Blood/DNA From Newborn Safety Tests

FINANCES

New Yorkers: Do You Need Financial Help to Raise Your Grandchild?

PEOPLE

A Weighty Diagnosis

LETTERS

On " Retracting a Medical Journal’s Autism Study " , NY Times

Send your LETTER

FREE CALENDAR LISTING!

DO SOMETHING ABOUT AUTISM NOW

.. . . Read, then Forward

the Schafer Autism Report.

$35 for 1 year - or free!

www.sarnet.org

Hundreds of Local

Autism Events

Web / Everywhere

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

District of Columbia

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Web / Everywhere

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

land

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Web / Everywhere

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Web / Everywhere

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Web / Everywhere

Now's the perfect time to order your free Puzzle Piece kits and launch an

autism awareness campaign in your community. When we raise the funding

necessary, ARI will see that important research is done, including the

large-scale, independent study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated children

Click here.

SAR Back Issues

The

Autism Community

Supports the

Schafer Autism Report

.. .

.. Read, then Forward

the Schafer Autism Report.

$35 for 1 year - or free!

www.sarnet.org

Copyright Notice: The above items are copyright protected. They

are for our readers' personal education or research purposes only and

provided at their request. Articles may not be further reprinted or used

commercially without consent from the copyright holders. To find the

copyright holders, follow the referenced website link provided at the

beginning of each item.

Lenny Schafer editor@...

The Schafer Autism Report is

a non-profit corporation

Vol. 14 No. 14

Unsubscribe here: www.sarnet.org/frm/unsub2.htm

1 of 1 File(s)

ATT00142.txt