New Study on Parental Age, Child's Autism Risk
In the largest-ever, international study of parental age and autism risk, researchers have found increased autism rates among children born to teen moms and among kids whose parents have large gaps between their ages. The study, funded by the advocacy organization Autism Speaks, also confirmed that children of either older moms or older dads have a higher risk of autism. Study co-author Sven Sandin, PhD, a medical epidemiologist affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, and Sweden's Karolinska Institutet added that "although parental age is a risk factor for autism, it is important to remember that, overall, the majority of children born to older or younger parents will develop normally."
-Abraham Reichenberg, PhD, Professor, Psychiatry, Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
-Sven Sandin, PhD, Medical Epidemiologist, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai