Older Parents and Autism

Researchers examine autism in children of older parents.
The New York Times (2/9, D6, Rabin) reports, "Older mothers are more likely than younger ones to have a child with autism, and older fathers significantly contribute to the risk of the disorder when their partners are under 30," according to a study published online Feb. 8 in the journal Autism Research.
The Los Angeles Times (2/9, Maugh) reports, "Women who give birth after age 40 are nearly twice as likely to have a child with autism as those under 25, but it is unlikely that delayed parenthood plays a big role in the current autism epidemic," researchers from the University of California-Davis noted in their study. They reached this conclusion after analyzing "all the singleton births in California during the 1990s for which information was available about the ages of both parents, a total of about 4.9 million births and 12,159 cases of autism."