Newest Autism Study's Findings are Shaky at Best

The September issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry contains a study of the relationship between a father's age and the incidence of autism. The study claims that men in their 40s are more likely to have children with autism than are younger men. The researchers purport further that there is a genetic link between autism and older fathers.

Although I have not read the study in full, only the abstract, the information provided there is enough to draw the following accurate conclusions about the credibility of this research.

The study did not examine clinical evidence for autism in the fathers or mothers, nor did it look at their personality traits to determine if the parents had autism-like characteristics. It only looked at their reported ages and the incidence of autism in a very select group of adult offspring.

If genetic evidence is not part of the study, how can any conclusion be drawn about a biological basis for autism? This is mere conjecture on the part of the authors and certainly is not based on the data gathered in the study. The data itself does not support such a conclusion.

Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that the fathers of the autistic children in the study did carry some genetic predisposition for autism. Say they even had some mild symptoms of it. It would be much more credible to assume that the BEHAVIORS of someone with these tendencies would make them more prone to social isolation and less likely to marry earlier in life than their neurotypical peers. Naturally, then, they would have children later in life. AGE ITSELF is not the determining factor. It is the social impact of having "quirky" personality traits that puts people in a position to have children later in life. The parents of these children probably would have had autistic offspring regardless of their age when they had them.

I am not saying there is no genetic link in autism, because I believe strongly that there IS one. This research completely misses the mark with its inaccurate assumptions. The hypothesis that autism is related to the father's age just doesn't have merit, because it also implies that the genetic cause lies more heavily with the father than with the mother. This study is not designed to draw such a conclusion.

In my opinion, this study was a waste of time.