Are the varied causes of Non-Familial Autism Really Unknown?

-What about a warning that advancing paternal age is a major cause in non-familial cases along with a family history of autoimmune disorders. Vaccinations?

See abstracts and articles since 1970 and even from 1954 in the blog.


What is the relationship with older paternal age and problems with imprinting?

JAMA -- Biological Clock Ticks for Men, Too: Genetic Defects ...
Abnormal expression of paternally imprinted genes is another possible mechanism linking advancing paternal age and offspring health, suggests Malaspina. ...jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/291/14/1683 -


Finally, we examined if paternal age was related to the risk for autism in our cohort. We found very strong effects of advancing paternal age on the risk for autism and related pervasive developmental disorders (Reichenberg et al., in press). Compared to the offspring of fathers aged 30 years or younger, the risk was tripled for offspring of fathers in their forties and was increased fivefold when paternal age was >50 years. Together, these studies provide strong and convergent support for the hypothesis that later paternal age can influence neural functioning