Autism Rates Higher in Children Born to Teen Moms and Older Parents, Study

In a study funded by the advocacy group Autism Speaks, it was discovered that children born to teen moms and parents with significant age gaps, were at an increased risk of having autism.

For the study, the team analysed the health records of over 5.7 million children from Norway, Denmark, Western Australia, Sweden and Israel. Thirty thousand children among these were diagnosed with the condition.

"There's no other data set like this out there," study co-author and Autism Speaks director of public health research Michael Rosanoff told CBS News.

"We've seen in previous literature that older parents are at a higher risk of having a child with autism, but what we're unsure of is if it's the father's age that increases the risk, if it's the mother's age, or if it's both," he said.

"This study was able to look at the effects of maternal age and paternal age both independently and jointly," he continued.

Scientists found that children had a 66 percent higher risk of having autism when born to men who became fathers in their fifties. It should be noted that the data comparison was made against men who became fathers in their 20's.

Autism rates dropped by 28 percent with fathers in their forties.

On the other hand, women children born to mothers in their forties were at a 15 percent higher risk of having autism when compared to those in their 20's.

Even teen mothers were shown to have an 18 percent increased risk for their children.

The researchers however stressed that parental age was only one of the many factors that could determine the likelihood of the condition.

"By being able to understand some of the risk factors for autism, we can better understand what may have been some of the causal factors in an individual's autism diagnosis," said Rosanoff.