Parents planning to have a child at an older age might be risky as they are at risk of having an autistic child. Research has found that there is a link between parent’s age and autism. A study was conducted on autistic children and found that when compared with parents between 25 and 29 years of age, mothers and fathers who were 40 years of age or older were 27 percent and 52 percent more likely, respectively, to have a child with an ASD though the researchers emphasize that the chances of having a child with ASD are small. A number of studies have looked at the impact of maternal age on autism, but the results have been inconsistent. Paternal age has been much less studied and our findings support a link between advanced (parental) age and autism, although the effect on risk is small lead author Dr. Lisa A. Croen told Reuters Health. Previous research has also shown supporting a link and the fact that a number of childhood diseases are associated with advanced parental age. The team is using this data to conduct further studies and publish their findings.
