Children of Older Moms at Risk for Autism

Women older than 40 who give birth are almost twice as likely to have autistic children as women under 25, according to researchers in California. The study was based on all births in the state in the 1990s and also found that the age of the father is mostly unrelated to autism in the child, except in cases where the father is older than 40 and the mother younger than 30. However, researchers say the rise in mothers over 40 only accounts for about 5 percent of the nearly 600 percent increase in autism diagnoses in the state since the 1990s.