Maternal Age Linked to Increased Risk of Autism

The Autism Research journal published a research article showing an increased risk of autism correlates with increasing maternal age. The study showed that women who have children after the age of 40 have a 50% increased risk (over women in their 20′s) of having a child with autism. The age of the father was only shown to increase risk when the maternal age was less than 25. The results of this study were discovered by analyzing data from 5.6 million births in California between Jan. 1, 1990 and Dec. 31, 1999. Although these data are interesting and answers another question involved in the mystery of autism, it shouldn’t impact the time at which you decide to have children. Even though the risk increases with maternal age, the statistics regarding probability of having a child with autism are still low. The average risk of a child being diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder was recently reported by the CDC to be 1 our of every 110 children so the overall risk for all women is still roughly 1% which is relatively low.