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Home › Articles › Autism › Older Dads and Autism

Older Dads and Autism

Does Paternal Age
Increase the Risk?

By Teri Brown

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

Finding the Cause of Autism
Dr.Leventhal believes that we are definitely closer to finding the causes of autism.

"If you had told me 20 years ago that we would find a cause of autism in my lifetime, I would have not believed you," Dr.Leventhal says. "I now think that we may find some causes soon, keeping in mind that there are likely to be multiple causes. As far as specific genes are concerned, we understand that this is a complex genetic disorder, which means that there are somewhere between 12 and 20 genes interacting with one another to cause autism. However, it may not be the same genes interacting in the same way to cause all cases."

Dr.Leventhal says the genetic research is moving along fast. The next step will be to figure out what the genes do and how they interact with one another.

"That will be a huge challenge," Dr.Leventhal says. "But we are already working on that, as well. And even if we don't know the causes, we do have some treatments that are effective, even if they are not curative."

Perhaps the most important thing people should take from this study is to be informed of the increased risk of autism due to advanced paternal age so they can make informed decisions about having children. But for those parents who already have a child with autism, like Rachel Gurevich, the study is a non-issue.

"I appreciate the research on what causes autism, but as a parent of an autistic child, I want to know what to do now to help him," Gurevich says.

Autism Facts
Pages:  1  2  3  4  


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