Health Buzz: Autism Risk Rises With Maternal Age

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There has already been a link established between the level of education attained by the mother and the incidence of autism. This may simply be another manifestation of that link. Well educated women tend to delay having children until later in life.

Jeff of CA 4:59PM February 09, 2010

I am a mother of an "autisic" child. I personally don't feel it has anything to due with age at time of birth. My child is almost 3 we have him in therapy 2 x per week (insurance will not pay in OK) and a state funded program where they come to the house. He has made remarkable improvement in speech and eye contact. I just want to say to all the parents with autistic children -- it in no way is your fault and though your child may never say I love you, they do love you and we as parents know we love our children with our whole heart. I hope they do find out the cause, I tend to feel it was the vaccines as our child was hitting milestones and then lost abilities after the MMR vaccines.

Angela of OK 4:46PM February 09, 2010

I agree with "My sons mom" above. Age didn't have anything to do with our son's diagnosis. I was 28 when he was born, and my wife was 25. There was no family history of autism on either side. It was 1997, and I had barely heard of autism other than in the movie RainMan. Now I have a beautiful 12 year old boy who cannot even begin to effectively interact with other humans. He will live with us his whole life, and I live in fear of what will happen to him after my wife and I are gone. Life the poster above, our son did get the MMR "as scheduled" and did break out in a high (103-104) fever right after. We didn't realize anything was wrong with him until pre-school, when he wouldn't speak to any other students or his teacher. He just went mute, and would engage is strange behaviors like rubbing the palms of his hands, jumping up and down and flapping his arms, and lining up matchbox cars in long lines.
Studies like this provide no relief, an no real help. Take away all the cases of autism that come from older parents, and there are still thousands and thousands of kids with stunted brains and dim prospects who were born to young parents.
When are these studies going to quit trying to blame parents, and start comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated children -- a study that pharma companies have been avoiding for years?

Sad Dad of OR 4:22PM February 09, 2010

When I was in school in the 1970s we were taught that women should not give birth to their first child after age 30 because the risk of Down's Syndrome and other illnesses was so high. They did not provide stats on the risks with subsequent children, but were adamant that the cut-off date for beginning your family was your 30th year.
It always fascinated me that this knowledge was somehow lost. My own daughters were not taught this, and were shocked when I told them what I'd learned. They assumed it was outdated information.
Imagine my surprise when, once again, we discover that older mothers and geezer fathers have a greater chance of creating a child with birth defects.
Was this information suppressed because my generation of Boomer Moms delayed childbirth until they felt the first stirrings of peri-menopause? Or was it because trophy wives didn't want to think that Grandpa-Daddy wasn't going to sire healthy progency?

Aleph 3:55PM February 09, 2010

How come my nephew and his wife who were married in their twenties, and many other young couples also have kids with autism? How about smoking environment as one instance.

JohnTR of CA 3:52PM February 09, 2010

I have a 17 year old with Asperger's (Autism) and my husband and I were both 25 when he was born.
I did have him immunized w/MMR and he developed full blown Measles from the shot, stopped talking, making eye contact etc at the age of 3 immediately after the shot.
There is no history before or since of Autism in our family and I was the second youngest of 5 girls in my family to have kids.
My 2 younger kids do not have Autism and I did not have them immunized until they were school age saving them from a possible fate like their brothers.
My son now faces a very sad future. I was young and foolish enough to trust the pediatricians to get him his shots "on time"

My Sons Mom of FL 3:50PM February 09, 2010

Yes the accepted conventional medical explanation up until the 1970s was that autism was caused by "refrigerator mothers"? Of course autism was almost unheard of at that time.
I wonder if older mother's are more likely to vaccinate their children?
http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/

Paul of MD 3:48PM February 09, 2010

How about links to Birth control Pills and Autism? Any studies on that?

Rose of CT 3:37PM February 09, 2010

This observation was made years ago in numerous other studies. this is not news but a need to fill a spot in a news presentation. While the report does not specifically say so, it seems all they did was go into public records as anyone could have done and drawn a conclusion. On the other hand the correlation is clear and well documented. Again, why present this as if it is a new finding? Another example of unresearched news presentation.

David Lynch of NC 3:11PM February 09, 2010

It's very interesting that in the new movie "Temple Grandin" in 1951 the mother was told that her daughter's autism was caused because she did not bond with her child at a crucial time. Today, we would never use this as an excuse for an autistic child.
Here are the possible reasons for autism that need to be investigated.
1. Is there a link between vaccines and autism?
2. Is there a link between food additives and autism?
3. Is there a link between environmental pollution and autism?
Enough with the useless studies which give us no real evidence or conclusion.

Monica of CT 2:48PM February 09, 2010