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Older dads six times more likely to have autistic children
Last updated at 23:22pm on 04.09.06
Older fathers are far more likely to have autistic children, experts have warned.
A new study found that children born to men aged 40 and over are nearly six times more likely to suffer from autism than those born to men under the age of 30.
The researchers claim the findings provide the first convincing evidence of a link between a father's advancing age and the developmental disorder.
They said it was further proof that men, like women, have a "biological clock" when it comes to producing healthy babies.
The research comes as the number of men delaying fatherhood in Britain has rocketed in recent years.
Latest figures show that more than 75,000 babies were born to fathers aged 40 and over in 2004 - more than one in ten of all children born.
This was a rise of almost a third since 1999, when over 57,000 children were born to fathers from the same age group.
The new findings also follow the recent revelation that the scale of childhood autism in Britain is far higher than previously thought - with more than one in 100 children now thought to suffer from an autism disorder.
For the latest study, scientists from the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York followed more than 130,000 Jewish babies born during the 1980s in Israel.
The age of the father at birth was noted and then compared with psychiatric assessments of the children at the age of 17.
The findings are published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association.
Dr Abraham Reichenberg said: "This research adds to our knowledge that men also have a biological clock when it comes to reproducing.
"The sample size for the over-50s was small so we added it to the results for fathers aged over 40, but our research suggests that very old fathers have around nine times the risk.
"The research shows a linear effect - every 10 years, the risk doubles."
The researchers believe that several genetic factors may be responsible for the link, including spontaneous changes in sperm-producing cells or discrepancies in how genes are expressed.
The team could find no link between a mother's advancing age and autism.
Autism is an umbrella term for a range of developmental disorders that have a lifelong effect on someone's ability to interact socially and communicate.
There are related problems, known as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), which include Asperger's syndrome, which also result in special teaching needs.
Until the 1990s, the figure of four or five cases of autism per 10,000 people was widely accepted - rising to 20 cases if typical ASD problems were included - but there has been growing evidence and anecdotal reports that the true level is substantially higher.
A recent study published in the respected Lancet Medical Journal suggested autistic disorders affect 116 per 100,000 children - about one in 86.
Researchers of the latest study said they believed that most of their subjects had autism rather than ASD.
They added that the results could not necessarily be generalised to apply to closely related disorders like Asperger's syndrome.
But Dr Reichenberg added: "The data suggests a significant association between paternal age and the risk of autism spectrum disorders.
"Although further work is necessary to confirm this interpretation, we believe our study provides the first convincing evidence of this link."
Experts believe that some of the increase in ASDs is due to better awareness of autism disorder and improved diagnosis but they also believe there may be more cases.
Some experts claim the rise is linked with other possible factors - including diet, vaccines, and exposure to pesticides - which affect those with a genetic predisposition to autism.
Claims of a link between the MMR vaccine, autism and bowel disorders - which put off many parents from getting their children immunised - have been consistently challenged by later research findings and the Department of Health.
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