Children of men age 40 and older have a significantly increased
risk of having autism spectrum disorders compared with those
whose fathers are younger than 30 years, according to an article
in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of
the JAMA/Archives journals. Autism is characterized by social
and language abnormalities and repetitive patterns of behavior,
according to background information in the article. Autism and
related conditions, known collectively as autism spectrum
disorders, have become increasingly common, affecting 50 in
every 10,000 children as compared with five in 10,000 two
decades ago. This increase is partially due to higher levels of
awareness and changes in diagnosis processes, but could also
reflect an increase in incidence of autism, according to the
authors. Older parental age has previously been linked to
abnormalities in the brain development of children; however, few
studies have effectively examined the effect of mothers' and
especially fathers' ages on autism