New York, Feb 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) A new study has concluded that older mothers are more prone to give birth to children with autism. This study analyzed over 5 million births, and then came to this conclusion. “Although fathers’ age can contribute risk, the risk is overwhelmed by maternal age,” said University of California at Davis researcher Janie Shelton, the study’s lead author.

The study revealed that mothers who are older than 40 are about 50 percent more likely to have a child with autism compared to those in their 20s. Whereas the risk for fathers older than 40 was 36 percent higher, compared to men in their 20s. One health expert said that the risk of a woman over 40, having an autistic child was still less than 4 in 1,000.

These findings are quite ironical to the other findings that say that the father’s age played a much larger role than the mother’s in the case of a child with autism. Older mothers are well known, to have increased risks for having children with genetic disorders. And it is well known that genes are thought to play a role in autism.