Older Dads More Likely To Have Children With Autism
Mutations in the sperm of older men could be a major contributory factor that leads to a significantly higher risk of having children with autism, say researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA.
They found that men over 40 have a much higher chance of fathering children with autism, compared to men under 30.
In most of the developed world the prevalence of autism among children has more than doubled over the last twenty years from about 18 per 10,000 to 50 per 10,000. Many reasons have been given for this, such as the MMR vaccine, pollution and better diagnosis today.
Perhaps a defective gene(s) is being activated as men get older, he said. Here are some of the researcher´s findings.