Association and risk of autism in relation to parental age (40 years)

Aim: to determine and evaluate the parental age as an important risk factor for autism study design: case control study place and duration of study: 6 months duration study (from first june2013 till first december 2013) at wapda teaching hospital ferozepur road lahore and asadpaediatrics and eye care clinic faisal town lahore. methodology: in this study parents of 100 cases (diagnosed patients with autism) and parents 100 controls (healthy children) were taken using non-probability convenience sampling. in this study there were 77 male and 23 female patients with male to female ratio 3.35:1. the mean age of all patients was 7.80±3.71 in which the mean age of boys and girls was 7.42±3.60 years and 9.13±3.77 years respectively.history was taken about the age of parents at the time of birth of child (age and sex matched) from both case and control group and data was recorded on a specified questionnaire form. results: the mean age of all patients was 7.80±3.71 in which the mean age of boys and girls was 7.42±3.60 years and 9.13±3.77 years respectively. there were 3.907 times chances to have autistic child if mother's age is ≥40 years and there were 3.50 times more chances to have autistic child if father's age is ≥40 years at the time of offspring conception. moreover if both mothers and father's age is ≥40 years there are 4.42 times more chances to have autistic child at the time of offspring conception. on concluding remarks as age of mother and father increases,there is higher risk of autism of children.