A University of California, Davis study has found that babies whose mothers are over 40 years old have twice the rate of autism. However, the research team reported that this does not mean that older parents are solely responsible for recent increases in autism cases.

In their report, the researchers noted that while the number of mothers over 40 in California has increased by 300 percent since the 1990s, autism has risen by over 600 percent. Older mothers are less than 5 percent of the population.

The UC study found that babies whose fathers are over 40 have a 59 percent increased risk for autism if their mothers are under 30, but no increased risk if their mothers are over 30 years.

Labels: autism, causes, parents

Posted By: Aspen/CRC