Age of your parents?

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According to an Article (Linky) i read today, having older parents, specifically an older dad would increase the likelyhood for an autistic child.

So, how old were your parents when you were born?

Mom 31, Dad 35.

They were both ~20 when my brother was born, late 20's when my twin brother and I were born, and approaching mid 30's when my sister was born. And we're all AS. It's definitely genetically passed on through my mothers' side of the family from my grandmother on down. My great Aunt, my grandmother's sister, is NT - but I do believe at least some of her adult children are AS, so it's possible to skip a person or generation and still be passed along. Mind you, I've never met her kids' fathers, so that shoots a big hole in the skipping-a-person and still being passed along theory.

It does make sense that genetic "defects," of any kind are going to be more common in the children of those who have kids much later in life as it's very commonly known and accepted. It's possible that sperm degrade with age and don't just lose numbers, but it's much more likely to be attributed to women's eggs and hormonal changes beginning before menopause. Sperm are produced fresh daily, women are born with all the eggs they're ever going to have.. and they do have an expiry date, along with other parts of the reproductive system that may not function as well at 35+ as they did at age 20.

This is possibly another reason we may see a BOOM in diagnoses in the not so distant future, because people in first world nations are trending towards waiting later and later to have children, if at all, due to financial & economic pressures of living in expensive cities, pursuing University educations and careers first etc. Not just for ASD, but for many other conditions as well.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

My guess for a "boom in autism" is that nowadays, parents are aware and they test for it the same second as their baby pops out into the world.

My mother was 37 and my dad was 40. When you get pregnant over the age of 35 you're more at risk of a huge amount of stuff. They automatically test the fuetus for Down's syndrome and keep a closer watch on the pregnancy as it classed as being at risk.

I think the rising number of pregnancies later in a woman's life after having a career first is part of the reason more babies are being born with autism. It makes sense when you think about it as a woman is born with all the eggs she's ever going to have and the older the woman, the older the egg that produces a baby. The older it is the more chance that something will be wrong with it.

My dad would have been 50 and my mum about 46. 20 year gap between me and my brother being born. I don't know if I was ever tested for any particular genetic defects or anything, but I've developed a fair few problems over the years like diabetes and coeliac disease in addition to the probable AS.

Mom 24
Father a little older but also in his twenties

mom was 37 and dad was 44

Mom was 18 (barely, I was born two days after she turned 18.)
Dad was 28 (barely, he turned 28 the day before I was born)

My mom was 22 when I was born, and my dad was 24.

Am i tripping or did you forget those old folks ones of us who have parents in their 60s or 70s?
My parents had me late in life compared to the 20 somethings having kids.
Ma was 32, Dad was 34

This is interesting especially after that article was written regarding advanced paternal age. Then again i guess it depends where the poll was done and the demographics there

Mom and dad 27, Dad had 2 more children at 36 both NT no issues. I must add that his new wife was the same age and and had ASD in the family.

My parents were 29.

My mother was 27, my father was 40.

I don't believe that parents age is a factor, simply because until we know what causes autism we can't be sure - I don't think it's fair to imply fault of parents for having children later in life.

Oh great! You could of added "When you were born" to the title. I've voted for my parent's current ages, with my dad being 50 and mum 47 or 48.

Well, accoarding to this poll not very much so.