Older mothers’ kids have higher autism risk, study finds
The Autism News | English
The mother’s age at conception has been linked with greater risk of autism.
By Madison Park and Miriam Falco | CNN
A 10-year study examining 4.9 million births in the 1990s has found more evidence that there’s a link between autism and the mother’s age at conception.
“The risk of having a child with full syndrome autism increases with maternal age,” concluded researchers at the University of California, Davis, who examined data from all births in their state for the decade. The findings are published in the February issue of the journal Autism Research.
The link between the parents’ age and children’s health is not entirely new. Prior studies have indicated that babies born to older women have higher risks of birth defects, low birth weight and certain chromosome problems, such as Down syndrome.
A 2007 Kaiser Permanente study conducted in California reported that autism risk increased with both the mother’s and father’s age. An Israeli study based in statistics from 1980s had isolated only paternal age as being linked with increased risk for autism.
Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, said the latest research had a far larger sample size.
Autism is a growing disorder; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that one in 110 children had the condition in 2006. But its causes remain unknown.
In the latest study, researchers found that mothers over the age of 40 had 51 percent higher odds of having children with autism compared with mothers between the ages 25 and 29.
The father’s age also played a factor, but only when he had a child with a woman under 30.
“When the mom has minimal age risk of an autistic child, we do see increased risks as dads get older,” said lead author Janie Shelton, a graduate student researcher at UC-Davis.
It’s unclear why the mother’s age has more bearing in autism risk than the father’s.
The study authors emphasize that while autism rates have risen 600 percent in the past two decades, older women having children contributed to only 5 percent more cases of autism.
As more women delay childbearing, it’s important to keep the study in perspective, said Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization.
“When we look at that dramatic increase [of autism] over the last two decades, there are multiple factors that have contributed to this,” she said. “It appears that advanced parents’ age, not just mothers but also father’s, account for a very small portion of that increase.”
Shelton said older mothers should not jump to conclusions.
“I don’t think a mom blaming herself is going to help us understand what’s causing autism or help prevent further cases,” she said. “I would urge parents not to blame themselves, regardless of what age they are.”
Shelton and the co-authors obtained all birth records in California from 1990 to 1999 and then collected data from the state’s Department of Developmental Services to count the number of autism diagnoses from children born during that decade.
How parental age increases autism risks remains unknown, but several hypotheses exist. Some suggest that the cumulative effects of the environment, changes to the autoimmune system, stress and reproductive technology may affect autism risk.
“As people age, we know there are changes to our DNA that occur,” Dawson said. “There have been studies that show we have increased damage to our DNA as parents age. They’re more likely to have children of low birth rate and more birth complications. It’s not surprising that those factors would slightly increase the risk for autism as well as other neurological disorders.”
Despite the lack of concrete answers, Shelton said, the findings offer some hints.
“It gives us some clues where to look biologically,” Shelton said. “In an epidemiological study, age is a proxy for a lot of things. And so we’re trying to further understand why age might be showing up as a risk factor, because we don’t know the mechanism yet.”
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/08/autism.mother.age.risks/
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Elizabeth Tess
THIS is getting silly, Older fathers, now it older mothers.
to educated. not educated not. bad parenting. you name it. LETS call it what it is, and be done with it.
Rita Price Ogrady
I guess it is only believable for those who have a child with a genetic form…how ever most of the population feels there is an environmental reason for their child’s autism.
Autism is all over the board, young old….parents…..living virtually any where in the world….
Jennifer Henry Radcliffe
My mom was 24 when she had my Aspie sister. I was 30 when I had my son with pdd-nos. Whatever.
Laura Barbuto DeAngelo
The article mentions that there could be cumulative environmental influences on the mother: “How parental age increases autism risks remains unknown, but several hypotheses exist. Some suggest that the cumulative effects of the environment, changes to the autoimmune system, stress and reproductive technology may affect autism risk.”
Tracy Yeakes
here we go again lol blame the parents
Monique Boulanger
The thing is, more women are waiting until they are older to have babies. Therefore…statistically more babies are being born to older mothers. So..of course more babies with Autism are born to older mothers because more babies are being born to older mothers in general.
Correlation /=/ causation.
Rita Price Ogrady
I was 20 when I had my oldest. He was 3 yo when he received a “contaminated” vaccine. That same lot # injured the other kids who received it. Funny, following my son’s injury…the medical community was so quick to change my son’s diagnosis to PDD. He is often referred as PDD….making him fit into the umbrella. I know this is happening far more than people know.
After they crucified Dr.. Wakefield….do you really think any physicians want to even be associated with a vaccine injury case? No way…It is a major problem that has been long ignored, and the studies are being done by them…with a major conflict of interest…and most of the public wants to believe every word….and the hundreds of thousands of parents like me, who are left hung to dry, fighting with people on the net who think we have some bizarre adjenda, other than what happened to our kids, from their routine childhood immunizations…..
Elizabeth Soliday
They will always have some stupid excuse for autism other than the truth.
Monique Boulanger
The truth is NO ONE KNOWS what causes it. No scientist, no doctor no one, knows what causes it. What causes it in one person, isn’t neccissarily what causes it in another. What your reality is isn’t exactly the same for another. it’s a spectrum.
Jennifer Brady
cars that have defects are recalled but not contaminated vaccines!
Laura Barbuto DeAngelo
Unfortunately I think it’s such a complex problem that the truth regarding cause(s) may still be many years off…fortunately research is receiving more funding than ever before, but results and duplication of findings will take time. Also, what DO you research – genetics? Neurology? Digestive connections? Vaccine connections? Environmental agent connections? Pathological implications (how does the disorder progress over the lifetime)? How parent-child relationships impact autism? How family dynamics/stresses impact autism? What interventions work best? Why do some interventions seem to work for some kids but not others? What outcomes should we be targeting with our interventions- e.g. short term skill aquisition/behavior control/IQ increase/language acquisition (areas where most of the “research base” is concentrated) vs. long-term “quality of life indicators (employment, financial self-sufficiency, independent living, close relationships) – given that it can’t be assumed that gains in the first category will necessarity lead to gains in the second category….
Amy Gould Caraballo
If we spent 1/2 the money we use for these ridiculous studies on HELPING our family and friends get the supports they need, it would be such a better world.
Rita Price Ogrady
Amy….Amen!
my son is a bit older, 18…so bak 10-15 years ago I had to sue DDD in order to get services. They were really trying not to service children back then….mostly adults, until this recent autism boom. Now they still operate like they are in 1990…and we have needs of 2010. Unfortunately, they are being told to do more…..with less…and it is just taking from the kids and their unique needs.
Haz Dyer
gee if we knew what caused autism at least then we would have some proper answers its not the parents fault full stop !! we need to educate people about it and spend a bit more time and money on autism !!!!!!!!!!!! would i change my son no do i wish he didnt have autism yes of course but he has and i wish people would understand not just think hes a spoilt or naughty child . I say come live my life for a week we would have more money and more emotional support after they
Kimberly Jackson Agostino
Great, another thing to blame myself for…..
Laura Barbuto DeAngelo
I understand that so many parents are frustrated, but I believe much of the research is, or will soon be focused on exactly Amy’s issue: trying to figure out WHAT services and supports would be most beneficial to provide the best long-term outcomes for our kids. And also whether there are different subgroups that would benefit from different … See Moretypes of interventions. Or whether a combination approach would work. Or whether interventions should be therapist centered or parent centered or school centered. I would venture to say that there are some services and supports now that may not have long term value for the child or adolescent. Some are quite expensive. I know parents who feel they have wasted a lot of time and money on services/supports that turned out to be useless. On the other hand, I know parents who received services and support (often the same type as in the first scenario I mentioned) that really helped their child. I also know parents without access to the services and supports they think they need.
Cindy Smith Howard
Gee… I’ve read the same thing regarding “older fathers”… Many, many more inportant factors are involved than parents’ ages.
Elizabeth Soliday
Monique, toxic metals are the root cause of autism. Chelating out the metals is the best solution and no, not everyone who chelates their child has a fully recovered kid afterwards, but that is the way they have the best chance of recovery and improvement of health.
There is an agenda to keep the focus AWAY from metals as the cause and to keep us running in circles going “what is the cause? what is the cause?”….they know dang well that if we all stood up together and said that metals caused autism and that they were responsible and then demanded them to pay, well, it would be “curtains” for them.
Amy, totally agree. I wish people would give $10 or $20 bucks to their neighbor whose kid has autism or give them an hour of respite care or something other than donate to foundations that do these dumb studies.
Rita, we got respite care when we were in Oregon, when we moved to Washington, nothing. So I totally understand, a mom whose child is aggressive and violent shouldn’t have to beg and fight should she? It’s disgusting.
Amy Gould Caraballo
You all may remember that a while back it was caused by too much Television watching. More recently a study insinuated that you have a higher chance in California. I mean seriously…enough. Let’s put some of that money into cleaning up our environmental toxins, getting the crap out of our food, and autism support. I believe that Autism in hereditary. but I also believe that the associated language impairments, food issues, anxiety issues and such are caused by our complete disregard for nature.
Vaccines should be the least of our worries. Start reading the labels at your grocer.
Rita Price Ogrady
http://www.putchildrenfirst.org
Laura Barbuto DeAngelo
Rita, I looked at your link – I am trying to understand all of it. My first question is, if the CDC doesn’t do the research, who should do it and how should it be funded? My second question is, if you agree with the study that says autism rates have declined now that mercury has been taken out of vaccines, how do you reconcile that with the new statistics that just came out that seem to show a continued increase in the pravalence of autism (now supposedly one in 100 new births). I am not taking sides, just trying to put it all together.
Elizabeth Soliday
Amy, vaccines are definitely a worry and they should be. Unlike food, they bypass a critical part of the immune system, the secretory IgA (in the skin, the saliva, the mucosal system). When we eat something, at least we have the ability to sort the waste from the nutrients, but when something is injected, that process is much more difficult.
There is no history of autism or any other mental illness in my family, yet my son is severely affected. No one will ever tell me that he is that way because of my genes. I do believe that my vaccines and my allergies have something to do with it, but that he would not be so bad off if he hadn’t been vaccinated.
Elizabeth Soliday
Laura, I can shed some light on that. In 2003-2004 time frame, they added thimerosal containing flu shots to the infant/toddler schedule and also started pushing them on pregnant women. There is also MORE aluminum in the current vaccine schedule than there was previously and we are seeing MORE speech disorders because of this.
The whole thing is really confusing because you have to understand that people are delaying and opting out of vaccinations too, making the statistics even more skewed. I wouldn’t trust any study or any numbers put out right now. I would ask the teachers at early intervention classes at your local school district whether they think the rate is going up or down and ask about the severity. At my district, the teachers say that they think the rate is going down slightly but that they are still seeing a lot of speech disorders.
Also, in 2005, the CDC told the AAP that it was okay to stop testing and treating lead poisoning and focus on prevention. What diagnosis do you think those kids get lumped into…you guessed it, Autism. My son is one of those kids.
Amy Gould Caraballo
I don’t buy the vaccine theory. But I do buy that kids with ASDs are more susceptible to the preservatives and other toxins in vaccines AND food AND our water supplies. And if you compared the environmental toxins of days gone by to today, you’d see that there are MAJOR increases in our environment. Not to mention genetically engineered food that never existed. Point in case, hormones in milk giving 12 year old girls DD cups.
Rita Price Ogrady
Laura,
My son was injured in the 1990’s, in a period of time that the amount of Mercury in a single vaccine far exceeded safety standards. In the late 1980’s, and early 1990’s was the worst period for neurodevelopmental disorders. It was due to the mercury in the vaccines. The CDC called for the manufacturers to “remove” the mercury. It still exists at 0.3 %, in trace amounts today. Now…I did not post that article to direct attention to mercury as the cause of autism. Merury is dangerous, as is Lead and other heavy metals, which STILL exist in the vaccines of today….even in trace amounts….look at the schedule. A trace amount in one vaccine …not too much, but if you have a new baby….How many vaccines are you getting in one visit? 8? Puts us right back to a mercury problem!
My son is not autistic, he is brain injured from a “contaminated” vaccine. The same lot # injured the other kids who received it. It was in the 1990’s when the amount of Mercury was out of control, Plus they had doubled the amount of vaccines kids get in a new aggressive vaccine proceedure….but they ALL contained huge amounts of Mercury.
Autism….IDK…but I dont think the aggressive vaccine schedule and the trace amounts, accumulatively are helping much, either.
Rita Price Ogrady
Thimerosal was first used as a preservative in vaccines in the late 1930s, long before we understood the extreme neurotoxicity of mercury. As the FDA ratcheted up safety standards, Thimerosal was grandfathered through due to its history without ever having to undergo any safety testing. We may not be reading so much about Thimerosal today if the CDC hadn’t embarked upon an aggressive plan to add vaccines to the Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization Schedule in the late 1980’s. In 1988, the Haemophilus Influenzae type B (Hib) vaccine was added to the schedule, followed by the Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine in 1991. Together, these two vaccines added six shots to the schedule, and tripled the amount of mercury children born after 1991 received compared to the previous generation.
The joint statement above downplayed the risk of mercury injected in newborns, and it downplayed the degree to which mercury exceeded federal safety standards. Doing the simple math, a child following the recommend schedule and receiving vaccines at birth, 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months was receiving mercury in excess of the EPA safe standards by a factor of 36x, 120x, 77x, and 66x, respectively. That’s 120 times the safe Federal standard!! (See chart).
The start of the sharp increase in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders matches the change in the vaccine schedule. In the 1980s the incidence of autism was somewhere between 1 in 10,000 and 1 in 5,000, today it is 1 in 150. (See chart).
“The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Modernization Act of 1997 called for the FDA to review and assess the risk of all mercury containing food and drugs. In line with this review, U.S. vaccine manufacturers responded to a December 1998 and April 1999 FDA request to provide more detailed information about the thimerosal content of their preparations which include this compound as a preservative,” said the statement.
The Federal Health authorities were well aware of the potential damage their public announcement could cause to the National Immunization Program, and they did their best to downplay risks, slow down change, and avoid blame or liability. Perhaps most astonishing of all, there is still Thimerosal, at high levels, being injected in our children before their first birthday, 7 years after this joint statement was released.
Laura Barbuto DeAngelo
OK, what about the single dose vs. mulitiple dose vaccines? I heard that the single dose vaccines don’t contain any thimerosol because they don’t need a preservative – being packaged as individual doses only. It’s only the multi-use, large quantities of the drug that need the preservative – they open it up for one patient and then it stays open for others afterward. This is my understanding anyway. When my son received his 18 month vaccines my pediatrician assured me that they only use single does vaccines so there was no thimerosol risk. My son presented with autism pretty nearly at birth anyway, so I seriously doubt that vaccines were a factor with him. But I am not ruling out that some kids could be affected by the thimerosol in vaccines, although as I said before, the vaccine would be combining with a neurological risk factor. I would like more info. on this issue of single vs. multiple dose vaccines – is it true that only the multi’s have (or had) thimerosal, and how commonly used was/is the multi vs. the single use vaccine? I also wanted to mention that the thimerosal, if that is the implicated toxin, could come from other sources than vaccines. My contact lens solution used to contain thimerosol, for example. I had to switch brands immediatedly because my eyes were allergic to it.
Rita Price Ogrady
multi dose vaccines contain Mercury as a preservative. Usually for things like the Flu shots. I know a lot of vaccines are made with Mercury and then most of it is removed, yet they are allowed to call them Mercury free, when in reality they still contain 0.3 % . Mercury is in other aspects of the environment, but when it is in food, the digestion process the lining of the stomach and the liver detox it quite well, as opposed to injecting it directly into a muscle.
When one preservative is removed….what are they replacing it with? Another….they are using a whole bunch of nasty preservatives in them. I keep my little ones as organic as possible, to reduce environmental contaminates, in addition.
if you are looking for vax ingredients, I know that the NVIC (National Vaccine Information Center) is a very accurate safety site, with a lot of good info.
Nicole Thorson
Hey vaccine people! Explain to me the countries where there is autism and NO vaccines….Besides, my son was born with autism, and I have been to a geneticist, and he has been tested for metals (not in his system), fragile X (does not have), as well as metabolic errors/food allergies, etc. ALL NORMAL TESTS. We did it all, and he’s still my son. My … See Morebeautiful, smart, nonverbal, nonallergic, non reactive, non-GI troubles, wonderful son. If they ever find out why he is this way, great, but my energy will always and forever be on making his life the best life he would ever want.
Nicole Thorson
Oh, and i was a young mom (25)
Emily Malabey
Nope! Don’t buy it and I would appreciate so called news outlets like CNN to quit spreading nonsense misinformation and fear-mongering jumping the gun BS when millions need our help and support like ten years ago.
Emily Malabey
oh, and well said up there above Amy G. C. There was also the lovely (and stupid, misogynistic crap) “refrigerator mother” “cause” back in the 1940’s, 50’s, and probably into the 90’s…..it’s so appreciated that we have come oh, so far!
Laura Barbuto DeAngelo
, is funny, conversational, self-aware, smart, musical, loving, and a great kid. I don’t really care whether or not vaccines or whatever CAUSED his autism. I focused on what the best program or intervention was that would help him RIGHT NOW. No point in obsessing over water under the bridge, I felt. Move on with a positive spirit and help him. So that’s what we did. And he continues to improve by the day. I am confident he will have an independent and happy adulthood.
I had all my kids get all the vaccines. My oldest is 17 and doing great – neurotypical, smart (skipped a grade), athletic, confident, lots of friends, freshman in college. My middle child is in 7th grade, neurotypical, smart, musical, sensitive, deep scientific thinker, lots of friends. My son is ten, was diagnosed with autistic disorder at age 2.5 (we had had issues with him from day one), is now in fourth grade, transitioned out of the school’s autism program now that his autism is mostly remediated (used to be “severe”
Emily Malabey
Thank you, Laura. You know, our society is retroactive, never proactive. And frankly, I am sick of people being left behind suffering and abused because of it. And it is always the people who need us the most that get shafted. No more!
Elizabeth Soliday
Some call that obsessing over the water under the bridge “investigation”, and they want to know what caused their child to be disabled. In knowing, they are better equipped to help. What is more positive than treating a child’s sickness and seeing him get healthier?
Rita Price Ogrady
I would love to know which countries are not vaccinating at all, as referenced above. I am just not familiar with ANY countries not vaccinating. 3rd world countries even have vaccinated kids.
Elizabeth Soliday
Nicole, metals leave the bloodstream and settle in the organs and tissues fairly quickly. Unless your child had an exposure within about a week, the tests would come out negative. A better test for metals is a Hair Elements Test, that will show both metals and minerals and will give you a better picture of what is going on. I know tons of people who have gotten this test and started correcting deficiencies and their children started to improve.
And Nicole, I don’t believe there are any countries not vaccinating.
Rita Price Ogrady
http://www.generationrescue.org/documents/SPECIAL%20REPORT%20AUTISM%202.pdf
If any one is having a blood draw for Heavy metals, that is very poor test, unless you had an exposure with in 1-2 weeks. Heavy metal leaves the blood and settles mostly in the brain. Once that occurs, it is not detected in the blood.
Above link was pretty much any thing I could find with relation to vaccination and ther countries….even croatia is vaccinating. So ufortunately, people waste time asking questions they know are not even feasable.
Again Liz….while some kids are not affected by theri vaccines…there are a good portion that have been injured, and reported by theri parents, and even their doctors. Vaccine injury is REAL, and unfortunatley, there are those who will continue to defend it at all costs, even when the more vax added to the schedule….time and time again, in general….the sicker our kids get. It is definately a reasonable claim to make that a fair share of kids have had bad reactions with neurodevelopmental Delays, it is another issue to flat out deny that it happens to some families, like ours.
My son’s vaccine WAS “contaminated” It injured the other kids who received the same lot. This sort of thing happens way more often than people realize….and it is not something Big Pharma is advertising….obviously!
Rita Price Ogrady
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scientific-link-to-autism-identified-70354482.html
Chris Hartman
That study about mercury in the bloodstream of autistic kids being the same as typical kids was deliberately worded like it was to confuse the general public, who has not explored this issue in depth. Most of the general public does not understand that our argument is that the mercury STAYS AROUND in tissues so of course it would not be more present in the bloodstream. As for autism being hereditary, that is such crap and I cannot believe that there are people who still think that way in light of how many kids there are with it.
Laura, I care very much what caused my child’s autism because that will give me the best course of action on how to treat her, both educationally AND medically. She wasn’t getting anywhere until we began addressing the fact that autism is a medical problem, not simply a behavioral problem. Advocating for better services is noble, but what do you do when the kitchen sink is overflowing onto the floor? Do you grab the towels first? Or shut off the faucet? It is simply common sense that we need to stop this from happening in the first place.
Chris Hartman
As for this “older mothers” bullshit, I was 24 when my daughter was born and my husband was 28. I don’t know anyone IRL who was an “older parent” at the time of their child’s birth; I’m talking 20s and early 30s here when the kids were born. I am really wondering where they come up with this stuff.