SchaferAutismReport: Best Evidence Interview: Older Parents and Autism - Questions on the Rise in Autism Continue

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Best Evidence Interview: Older Parents and Autism - Questions on the Rise in

Autism Continue

From Medscape Pediatrics - Best Evidence

Interviews in Pediatrics is.gd/c3877

Expert Interview With Judith K. Grether, PhD

Carol Peckham

The Best Evidence Study Risk of Autism and Increasing Maternal and Paternal

Age in a Large North American Population Grether JK, MC, Croen LA,

D, Windham GC

Am J Epidemiol.

2009;170:1118-1126

This study was selected as the subject of this

interview because of its high ranking in Medscape Best Evidence, which uses

the McMaster Online Rating of Evidence System. Of a possible top score of 7,

clinicians who used this system ranked this study as 5 for relevance and 7

for newsworthiness.

Abstract

About the Interviewee Judith Grether, PhD, is

Senior Epidemiologist in the Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California

Department of Health Services. Dr. Grether is a perinatal epidemiologist who

has had the opportunity over many years, within the California Department of

Public Health, to conduct research studies on the prevalence of and risk

factors for developmental disabilities, primarily cerebral palsy and autism

spectrum disorders. She has recently retired and is now working to complete

some analyses and manuscripts.

Medscape: Your study, " Risk of

Autism and Increasing Maternal and Paternal Age in a Large North American

Population, " was highly ranked by pediatric clinicians. Could you just

give a brief description of it and its significance?

Judith Grether, PhD: Our study was the

largest that has yet been conducted -- and, I would guess, is probably the

largest that will be conducted -- to specifically address the question of

whether the risk for autism in offspring increases with the advancing age of

the mother and/or the father. With our very large study, we were also able to

obtain statistically precise estimates of how much of an increase in risk

there is as parents get older. A number of prior studies have looked at the

question of a parental age effect; to my knowledge, none have reported a

decreasing risk as parents get older, but some have found an increased risk

only for advancing maternal age and others only for advancing paternal age. A

couple of studies have pretty dramatic estimates of the amount of that

increased risk -- particularly one from Israel that found only father's age

to be important. From a scientific perspective, to get clues to what may

underlie any increase in risk for autism associated with older parents, it is

important to answer the question: is it both age of the father and the

mother, or is it only mothers or only fathers? There are some tricky

statistical issues here and it is very

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Best Evidence Interview: Older Parents and Autism - Questions on the Rise

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