Grether Judith K, Anderson Meredith C, Croen Lisa A, Smith Daniel, Windham Gayle C
Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Public Health, Richmond, California 94804, USA.
Am J Epidemiol. 2009 Nov 1;170(9):1118-26. doi: 10.1093/aje/kwp247. Epub 2009 Sep 25.
Previous studies are inconsistent regarding whether there are independent effects of maternal and paternal age on the risk of autism. Different biologic mechanisms are suggested by maternal and paternal age effects. The study population included all California singletons born in 1989-2002 (n = 7,550,026). Children with autism (n = 23,311) were identified through the California Department of Developmental Services and compared with the remainder of the study population, with parental ages and covariates obtained from birth certificates. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to evaluate the risk of autism associated with increasing maternal and paternal age. In adjusted models that included age of the other parent and demographic covariates, a 10-year increase in maternal age was associated with a 38% increase in the odds ratio for autism (odds ratio = 1.38, 95% confidence interval: 1.32, 1.44), and a 10-year increase in paternal age was associated with a 22% increase (odds ratio = 1.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.18, 1.26). Maternal and paternal age effects were seen in subgroups defined by race/ethnicity and other covariates and were of greater magnitude among first-born compared with later-born children. Further studies are needed to help clarify the biologic mechanisms involved in the independent association of autism risk with increasing maternal and paternal age.
以往的研究在母亲年龄和父亲年龄对自闭症风险是否存在独立影响这一问题上存在不一致的观点。母亲年龄效应和父亲年龄效应暗示了不同的生物学机制。研究人群包括1989年至2002年在加利福尼亚州出生的所有单胎婴儿（n = 7,550,026）。通过加利福尼亚州发展服务部识别出患有自闭症的儿童（n = 23,311），并将其与研究人群的其余部分进行比较，父母年龄和协变量数据来自出生证明。使用调整后的优势比和95%置信区间来评估与母亲年龄和父亲年龄增加相关的自闭症风险。在纳入另一方父母年龄和人口统计学协变量的调整模型中，母亲年龄每增加10岁，自闭症的优势比增加38%（优势比 = 1.38，95%置信区间：1.32, 1.44），父亲年龄每增加10岁，优势比增加22%（优势比 = 1.22，95%置信区间：1.18, 1.26）。在按种族/族裔和其他协变量定义的亚组中观察到了母亲年龄效应和父亲年龄效应，并且与晚出生的孩子相比，头胎孩子中的效应更大。需要进一步的研究来帮助阐明自闭症风险与母亲年龄和父亲年龄增加独立相关所涉及的生物学机制。
