Advancing paternal age and simplex autism

Abstract

De novo events appear more common in female and simplex autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases and may underlie greater ASD risk in older fathers’ offspring. This study examined whether advancing paternal age predicts an increase in simplex ( n = 90) versus multiplex ASD cases ( n = 587) in 677 participants (340 families). Whether or not controlling for maternal age, results support a significant interaction of linear paternal age and sex of the child on simplex family type. Female ASD cases were significantly more likely to be simplex as paternal age increased, but the increase for males was not significant. Findings suggest that ASD arising from non-familial, de novo events may be far less prominent in males than in females, even if more prevalent in males, due to the substantially larger number of male cases attributable to other, more strongly male-biased risk factors.