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Parental Age and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Finnish National Birth Cohort

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Abstract

Aim of the study was to examine the associations between parental age and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Data were based on the FIPS-A (Finnish Prenatal Study of Autism and Autism Spectrum Disorders), a case-control study with a total of 4,713 cases with childhood autism (n = 1,132), Asperger’s syndrome (n = 1,785) or other pervasive developmental disorder (PDD) (n = 1,796), which were ascertained from the Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Controls were selected from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Conditional logistic regression models were used for statistical analyses. Advanced paternal age (35–49 years) was associated with childhood autism in offspring, whereas advanced maternal age was associated with both Asperger’s syndrome and PDD in offspring (35 years or more and 40 years or more, respectively). Teenage motherhood (19 years or less) was associated with PDD in offspring. The main finding was that maternal and paternal ages were differentially associated with ASD subtypes. In addition to advanced parental age, teenage pregnancy seems to incur a risk for PDD in offspring.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Mr. Atte Sinokki for his assistance in preparing this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child Psychiatry, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Katja M. Lampi, Susanna Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, Venla Lehti, Mika Gissler & Andre Sourander

  2. Department of Biostatistics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Hans Helenius

  3. National Institute of Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland

    Mika Gissler

  4. Nordic School of Public Health, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Mika Gissler

  5. Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Alan S. Brown

  6. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Alan S. Brown

  7. Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University Hospital, Itäinen Pitkäkatu 1/Varia, 20014, Turku, Finland

    Andre Sourander

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  1. Katja M. Lampi
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  2. Susanna Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki
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  3. Venla Lehti
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  4. Hans Helenius
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Correspondence to Andre Sourander.

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Lampi, K.M., Hinkka-Yli-Salomäki, S., Lehti, V. et al. Parental Age and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders in a Finnish National Birth Cohort. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 2526–2535 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1801-3

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