Tsai L Y, Stewart M A
J Autism Dev Disord. 1983 Mar;13(1):57-65. doi: 10.1007/BF01531359.
Birth orders and maternal ages of the 113 autistic patients were compared with those of the general population. An excess of mothers aged 35 or older was observed in the autistic group, though the mean maternal age for the whole group was very similar to those of the general population. A deviation from average in birth order was observed in autistics. Significantly more autistics were products of at-risk pregnancies (defined as either first, fourth, or later born, or born to mothers aged 30 or older) than the base population. The results suggest that at least some environmental factors are involved in the causation of autism. The findings support the idea that a multifactorial mechanism is responsible for some or all of the cases.
将113名自闭症患者的出生顺序和母亲年龄与普通人群进行了比较。在自闭症患者组中观察到35岁及以上母亲的比例过高，尽管整个组的平均母亲年龄与普通人群非常相似。自闭症患者的出生顺序偏离了平均水平。与基础人群相比，自闭症患者中高危妊娠（定义为第一胎、第四胎或更高胎次出生，或母亲年龄在30岁及以上）的产物明显更多。结果表明，至少一些环境因素与自闭症的病因有关。这些发现支持了多因素机制导致部分或全部病例的观点。
