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Brief Report: Parental Age and the Sex Ratio in Autism

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Abstract

The male-to-female (M:F) ratio for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), typically about 4:1, appears to decrease with increasing paternal age, but this relationship has not been systematically tested. With 393 ASD cases from families with two or more ASD cases, we categorized paternal age into five age groups (<30, 30–34, 35–39, 40–44, 45+) and found that the M:F ratio was significantly decreased with increasing paternal age groups and remained so after also adjusting for maternal age. No significant relationship between maternal age group and the M:F ratio was observed. This study suggests that the M:F ratio is reduced with increasing paternal age consistent with de novo genetic or genomic anomalies arising more frequently as men age and then conceive children.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Beatrice and Samuel A. Seaver Foundation, the National Institutes of Health through a studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment grant (MH-066673) and Cure Autism Now. We gratefully acknowledge all the families who participated in this study and the resources provided by the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) Consortium. The Autism Genetic Resource Exchange is a program of Cure Autism Now and is supported, in part, by grant MH64547 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Daniel H. Geschwind (PI); the web site http://www.agre.org contains a list of consortium members. We appreciate the support and consultations from Ms. Janet Longo-Abinanti and the time and effort from all the families who participated in this study.

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Author notes

  1. Abraham Reichenberg

    Present address: Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

  2. Christopher J. Smith

    Present address: Southwestern Autism Research and Resources Center, Phoenix, AZ, USA

  3. Connor M. Puleo

    Present address: Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Alene Anello

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1230, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Abraham Reichenberg, Xiaodong Luo, James Schmeidler, Eric Hollander, Christopher J. Smith, Connor M. Puleo, Lauren A. Kryzak & Jeremy M. Silverman

  3. James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Bronx, NY, USA

    Jeremy M. Silverman

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  1. Alene Anello
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  2. Abraham Reichenberg
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Correspondence to Jeremy M. Silverman.

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Anello, A., Reichenberg, A., Luo, X. et al. Brief Report: Parental Age and the Sex Ratio in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 39, 1487–1492 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0755-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0755-y

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