latest technology news: Autism, Older Parents and Sperm Donation

: The Biological Clock Ticks for Men Too - Ivan Prole

Aging sperm and eggs may cause miscarriages, fetal deaths and genetic disabilities and may predispose certain children to develop autism.

In 2007, doctors at Kaiser Permanente hospital in California published the results of a study they had conducted into autistic spectrum disorders. They found that the older a parent was, the higher the risk that their child would be diagnosed with autism. The risk was increased for children of parents who were 34 years or older and for every decade of increasing age.

133,114 children were enrolled in the study and of these, 593 had an autistic spectrum disorder, either autism, asperger?s syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).

The authors wrote:

?The reported prevalence of ASDs has increased significantly during the past few decades, in this same period, the mean age at maternity and paternity has also increased.?

Although it has been known for years that the older a woman is when she conceives the more chance her baby will have disabilities, men were thought to be immune from this same problem. It was thought that men could happily father a child at the age of 70 with no adverse effects to that child.

Now it has been shown that old sperm can cause miscarriages, fetal death and even childhood cancers and auto-immune disorders. This may be a problem for couples embarking on IVF, who are often older because they have been trying to have a baby for several years.

Could Having Older Parents Make A Baby More Susceptible to the Environment?

Perhaps being conceived with older sperm and egg could make a baby genetically susceptible to the environmental toxins around him? Environmental pollution, pesticides, allergies and propensity to adverse reactions to medications could theoretically be a consequence of having poorer quality genes.

Vaccines, Well-Baby Visits and Higher Risk of ASD

The authors wrote:

?Since preliminary analyses showed that the mean number of vaccinations in the first 6 months of life and the mean number of well-child care visits in the second year of life were significantly higher for children with older parents and children with ASDs, we were concerned that differential health care?seeking behavior might confound our results. Thus, these variables were also included as covariates in multivariable models.?

The increase in autism could be because more older parents in the group studied took their babies to well baby checks and gave them more vaccinations than younger parents. It could be a vaccine component causing neurological decline or a combination of that and genes. If old sperm is capable of causing fetal death, maybe old sperm could create a defective immune system that cannot cope with the challenge of being vaccinated?

Autism in Children Linked to Sperm Donor

The theory that some cases of autism may be linked to sperm was strengthened when single woman, Gwenyth Jackaway decided she would like to become a mother and went to a sperm donation clinic. She chose donor X. Her son, Dylan was diagnosed with a type of high functioning autism when he was two years old. At five years old, he could play the piano and knew the Fibonacci sequence but he had difficulties with socialising and had unusual behavior like hand-flapping and toe walking.

Gwenyth discovered, through the website Donor Sibling Registry, that donor X had created six families. Three of the children were diagnosed with autism and one showed signs of autism, leading the women to believe that something about donor X?s sperm was causing the autism.

Many experts believe that autism is genetic but needs an environmental trigger to set it off.

?It's a combination of being genetically vulnerable and then having some kind of social or toxicant exposure that tips you over," said Dr. Gary Goldstein at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

This raises the question of whether older parents undergoing IVF should opt for younger eggs and sperm as a matter of routine? Should parents who wish to delay parenting to the 30?s bank their eggs and sperm?

A genetic test has been formulated that looks at variations on the X chromosome that may be responsible for some cases of autism, particularly after IVF, but 90% of cases of autism have no known genetic cause, making testing difficult. Perhaps the answer in addition to using younger germ cells, is to test all babies for mitochondrial dysfunction that might predispose them to the environmental triggers that cause autism?

Sources:

Joanna Karpasea-Jones, Gloss Photographic Studio, London

Joanna Karpasea-Jones - I have been a health writer since 1997 when I published my own newsletter, SHOTS. I have written 2 books on childhood health, and write ...