Mothers with epilepsy, mothers with epilepsy taking valproate and autism a clue? Low birth weight and paternal age

May 2006, Vol 96, No. 5 | American Journal of Public Health 862-866
© 2006 American Public Health Association
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.066324 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
Paternal Age as a Risk Factor for Low Birthweight
Nancy E. Reichman, PhD and Julien O. Teitler, PhD

Nancy E. Reichman is with the Department of Pediatrics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Brunswick. Julien O. Teitler is with the School of Social Work, Columbia University, New York, NY.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Nancy E. Reichman, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 97 Paterson St, Room 435, New Brunswick, NJ 08903 (e-mail: nancy.reichman@umdnj.edu).



Objectives. We examined associations between paternal age and low birth-weight in the US urban population.

Methods. Using a population-based sample of 4621 births, we used multiple logistic regression analysis to estimate associations between paternal age and low birthweight, controlling for maternal age, other demographic factors, and the child’s gender.

Results. When the child’s gender and the mother’s race/ethnicity, birthplace, parity, marital status, and health insurance type were controlled, teenaged fathers were 20% less likely and fathers older than 34 years were 90% more likely than fathers aged 20 to 34 years to have low-birthweight babies. The associations were significant when maternal age was also controlled. No racial/ethnic differences in associations between paternal age and low birthweight were found.

Conclusions. We identified paternal age as an independent risk factor for low birthweight in the US urban population, suggesting that more attention needs to be paid to paternal influences on birth outcomes and to the interactive effects of urban environments and individual risk factors on health.








Local stem cell firm gets fed grant
Chief scientist cited in Forbes magazine

The Capital Times — 5/31/2008 12:14 pm

Madison-based stem cell company Stemina Biomarkers Discovery Inc. has learned it will receive a $150,000 Phase I grant from the National Cancer Institute through the federal government's Small Business Innovation Research grant program, the Wisconsin Technology Council said in a news release Friday.

Stemina, founded in late 2006 by chief executive officer Beth Donley and UW-Madison stem cell scientist Gabriella Cezar, is aiming to use human embryonic stem cells to help determine whether new drug candidates will cause birth defects in humans. So-called "biomarker" research can also test drug toxicity in other ways.

The SBIR grant awarded this week will be used for research to develop a test that could combine stem cell research and metabolomics, which is the systematic study of biomarkers that specific cellular processes leave behind. The goal is to develop a test to determine whether cancer-fighting drugs actually kill the cancerous stem cells, which otherwise can regenerate.

Cezar and fellow UW-Madison scientist and stem cell pioneer James Thomson are featured as part of a group of 12 "stem cell revolutionaries" in the latest issue of Forbes magazine. The story notes that Cezar "is using stem cells to get to the roots of autism. Autism appears in a tenth of the children born to mothers who take the epilepsy drug valproate."Stemina also has raised $1.5 million from angel investors and received a $1 million start-up grant from the state.



The Capital Times — 5/31/2008 12:14 pm



Low Birth weight also link to older father and schizophrenia in girls.

Low Birth Weight May Increase Autism Risk in Girls (Update1)
By Elizabeth Lopatto
June 2 (Bloomberg) -- Autism strikes low birth weight baby girls at a higher rate than similar-sized boys when the infants are compared with larger children, according to a study that suggests risk factors for the disorder vary by sex.
Baby girls weighing less than 2.5 kilograms, or about 5.5 pounds, had 3.5 times increased risk of autism and baby girls born more than seven weeks early had a 5.4 times increased risk. Boys born small or early didn't have a significant difference in their risk of being autistic, the according to a report in the journal Pediatrics.
Doctors aren't sure what causes autism, though genetics and the environment probably both play roles, according to the National Institutes of Health. This research indicates that boys and girls have different risk factors for the disorder, said study author Diana Schendel.
``This suggests there may be sex differences in genetic factors leading to autism,'' said Schendel, a researcher for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a May 30 telephone interview. ``Girls may need an additional insult'' before birth that could include reduced growth or premature birth.
Autism and related disorders, some of them less severe, affect about 1 in 150 U.S. children. There is no cure for the malady, in which children may refuse to engage with other people, echo words and phrases, or repeat actions many times. Risk factors include older fathers and environmental toxins.
About 1 in 13 babies in the U.S. has low birth weight, according to the March of Dimes. Babies may weigh less than 5 pounds 8 ounces because they're premature, because the mother has heart problems, because of infections or because of cigarette, drug, or alcohol use.
`Biggest Risk Factors'
``We know that low birth weight and pre-term birth are among the biggest risk factors for developmental disabilities,'' Schendel said. ``The higher prevalence of autism supports monitoring these children carefully for behavioral problems.''
Babies born with low birth weights are likelier to have bleeding in the brain, lungs that are more likely to collapse, heart problems, and vision loss.
The study was of children born from 1981 to 1993 in Atlanta, who lived to 3 years of age, and were still living in Atlanta at ages 3 to 10. Over 550 children with autism were paired to normal children born in the same year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Lopatto in New York at elopatto@bloomberg.net.