Getting the early diagnosis right may be important for researchers developing therapies for autism, and for educators developing early intervention programs targeted at the social, behavioral and adaptive deficits of children with autism, the authors suggested in the June issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
Older Dads Have More Autistic Kids
Men in their 40s are nearly six times more likely than men in their 20s to father children with autism spectrum disorders, according to researchers in the U.S. and Israel.
An analysis of medical records of more than 300,000 men and women reporting for the draft in Israel revealed that autism spectrum disorders were significantly more prevalent among recruits whose fathers were 40 or older at the time of their birth, found Abraham Reichenberg, Ph.D., of Mount Sinai in New York, and colleagues.
There was no association, however, between the mothers' ages at the time of their offspring's birth and autism, the investigators reported in the September issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
