Abstract
Reports on autism and parental age have yielded conflicting results on whether mothers, fathers, or both, contribute to increased risk. We analyzed restricted strata of parental age in a 10-year California birth cohort to determine the independent or dependent effect from each parent. Autism cases from California Department of Developmental Services records were linked to State birth files (1990-1999). Only singleton births with complete data on parental age and education were included (n = 4,947,935, cases = 12,159). In multivariate logistic regression models, advancing maternal age increased risk for autism monotonically regardless of the paternal age. Compared with mothers 25-29 years of age, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for mothers 401 years was 1.51 (95% CI: 1.35-1.70), or compared with mothers <25 years of age, aOR = 1.77 (95% CI, 1.56-2.00). In contrast, autism risk was associated with advancing paternal age primarily among mothers <30: aOR = 1.59 (95% CI, 1.37-1.85) comparing fathers 40+ vs. 25-29 years of age. However, among mothers >30, the aOR was 1.13 (95% CI, 1.01-1.27) for fathers 40+ vs. 25-29 years of age, almost identical to the aOR for fathers <25 years. Based on the first examination of heterogeneity in parental age effects, it appears that women's risk for delivering a child who develops autism increases throughout their reproductive years whereas father's age confers increased risk for autism when mothers are <30, but has little effect when mothers are past age 30. We also calculated that the recent trend towards delayed childbearing contributed approximately a 4.6% increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 30-39 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Autism Research |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2010 |
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Keywords
- Advanced maternal age
- Advanced paternal age
- Attributable risk
- Autism
- Effect measure modification
- Interaction
- Maternal age
- Paternal age
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)
- Clinical Neurology
- Genetics(clinical)
Cite this
Independent and dependent contributions of advanced maternal and paternal ages to autism risk. / Shelton, Janie F.; Tancredi, Daniel J; Hertz-Picciotto, Irva.
In: Autism Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, 02.2010, p. 30-39.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Independent and dependent contributions of advanced maternal and paternal ages to autism risk
AU - Shelton, Janie F.
AU - Tancredi, Daniel J
AU - Hertz-Picciotto, Irva
PY - 2010/2
Y1 - 2010/2
N2 - Reports on autism and parental age have yielded conflicting results on whether mothers, fathers, or both, contribute to increased risk. We analyzed restricted strata of parental age in a 10-year California birth cohort to determine the independent or dependent effect from each parent. Autism cases from California Department of Developmental Services records were linked to State birth files (1990-1999). Only singleton births with complete data on parental age and education were included (n = 4,947,935, cases = 12,159). In multivariate logistic regression models, advancing maternal age increased risk for autism monotonically regardless of the paternal age. Compared with mothers 25-29 years of age, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for mothers 401 years was 1.51 (95% CI: 1.35-1.70), or compared with mothers <25 years of age, aOR = 1.77 (95% CI, 1.56-2.00). In contrast, autism risk was associated with advancing paternal age primarily among mothers <30: aOR = 1.59 (95% CI, 1.37-1.85) comparing fathers 40+ vs. 25-29 years of age. However, among mothers >30, the aOR was 1.13 (95% CI, 1.01-1.27) for fathers 40+ vs. 25-29 years of age, almost identical to the aOR for fathers <25 years. Based on the first examination of heterogeneity in parental age effects, it appears that women's risk for delivering a child who develops autism increases throughout their reproductive years whereas father's age confers increased risk for autism when mothers are <30, but has little effect when mothers are past age 30. We also calculated that the recent trend towards delayed childbearing contributed approximately a 4.6% increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade.
AB - Reports on autism and parental age have yielded conflicting results on whether mothers, fathers, or both, contribute to increased risk. We analyzed restricted strata of parental age in a 10-year California birth cohort to determine the independent or dependent effect from each parent. Autism cases from California Department of Developmental Services records were linked to State birth files (1990-1999). Only singleton births with complete data on parental age and education were included (n = 4,947,935, cases = 12,159). In multivariate logistic regression models, advancing maternal age increased risk for autism monotonically regardless of the paternal age. Compared with mothers 25-29 years of age, the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for mothers 401 years was 1.51 (95% CI: 1.35-1.70), or compared with mothers <25 years of age, aOR = 1.77 (95% CI, 1.56-2.00). In contrast, autism risk was associated with advancing paternal age primarily among mothers <30: aOR = 1.59 (95% CI, 1.37-1.85) comparing fathers 40+ vs. 25-29 years of age. However, among mothers >30, the aOR was 1.13 (95% CI, 1.01-1.27) for fathers 40+ vs. 25-29 years of age, almost identical to the aOR for fathers <25 years. Based on the first examination of heterogeneity in parental age effects, it appears that women's risk for delivering a child who develops autism increases throughout their reproductive years whereas father's age confers increased risk for autism when mothers are <30, but has little effect when mothers are past age 30. We also calculated that the recent trend towards delayed childbearing contributed approximately a 4.6% increase in autism diagnoses in California over the decade.
KW - Advanced maternal age
KW - Advanced paternal age
KW - Attributable risk
KW - Autism
KW - Effect measure modification
KW - Interaction
KW - Maternal age
KW - Paternal age
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77249095480&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77249095480&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/aur.116
DO - 10.1002/aur.116
M3 - Article
C2 - 20143326
AN - SCOPUS:77249095480
VL - 3
SP - 30
EP - 39
JO - Autism Research
JF - Autism Research
SN - 1939-3806
IS - 1
ER -