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Review
. 2017 Jan;135(1):29-41.
doi: 10.1111/acps.12666. Epub 2016 Nov 14.

Advanced parental age and autism risk in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

S Wu  1 , F Wu  2 , Y Ding  3 , J Hou  1 , J Bi  1 , Z Zhang  1
Affiliations
Review

Advanced parental age and autism risk in children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

S Wu et al. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: Advanced parental age has raised additional concern as a risk factor of autism. We conducted a meta-analysis of observational studies investigating the association between advanced parental age and risk of autism.

Method: PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science were searched for reports published up to November 11, 2015. Risk estimates from individual studies were pooled using random-effects models.

Results: Twenty-seven studies were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with the reference points, the lowest parental age category was associated with a reduced risk of autism in the offspring, with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) 0.89 (95% confidence intervals [CIs] 0.75-1.06) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.73-0.89) for mother and father, respectively, and the highest parental age category was associated with an increased risk of autism in the offspring, with adjusted ORs 1.41 (95% CI 1.29-1.55) and 1.55 (95% CI 1.39-1.73) for mother and father respectively. Dose-response meta-analysis indicated that an increase of 10 years in maternal and paternal age was associated with an 18% and 21% higher risk of autism.

Conclusion: Advanced parental age was associated with an increased risk of autism in the offspring. More mechanistic studies are needed to further explain this positive association.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorders; child; maternal age; paternal age.

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