TY - JOUR
T1 - Brief report
T2 - Parental age and the sex ratio in autism
AU - Anello, Alene
AU - Reichenberg, Abraham
AU - Luo, Xiaodong
AU - Schmeidler, James
AU - Hollander, Eric
AU - Smith, Christopher J.
AU - Puleo, Connor M.
AU - Kryzak, Lauren A.
AU - Silverman, Jeremy M.
N1 - Funding Information:
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.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Copy number variants
KW - Genetics
KW - Genomic anomalies
KW - Maternal age
KW - Paternal age
KW - Sex ratio
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U2 - 10.1007/s10803-009-0755-y
DO - 10.1007/s10803-009-0755-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 19452267
AN - SCOPUS:70349601666
VL - 39
SP - 1487
EP - 1492
JO - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
JF - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
SN - 0162-3257
IS - 10
ER -