|
|
|
|
|
|
I am 25 and my husband is 41, we have a healthy 2 year old daughter, but is there anything that we need to be cautious of. I have heard that some children that the fathers are over 35 may have a higher chance of being autistic??
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I heard that news report too from various sources (NPR, BBC, MSNBC and WebMD). The report was that children are 6 times more likely to have autism if the father is 40-49--and that's 6 times more likely than if born to a father less than 30 years old. The study is not definitive and was done exclusively on Israeli 17-year olds. It's just one study and it's very recent so it will be interesting to see how it holds up when others in the medical community start testing that theory. They didn't really focus in on what ethnic groups were represented. It may be that it only applies to that one ethnic group, but it's a strong study. I wouldn't worry too much until other studies are done to support the same finding. I don't know of anything else to be cautious of---my husband is older than 40 and our genetic counselor did not mention that our baby would be at risk because of anything having to do with my dh's age.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
. . .oops--like I said the study was done only on Israeli 17 year olds but by ethnic group I mean maybe they emigrated from Europe or wherever
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good info, Perl. I don't know much about overall statistics, but this is statictics of our family: first child, mom 39 and dad 56. Second child, mom 41 and dad 57. They are 3 and 1 1/2 years old now, full of energy (too much sometimes) and far from being autistic.
|
