Risk for Autism Across Generations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a complex inheritance pattern and is more common in males. Etiologic models suggest that most ASD risk is transmitted through common and rare de novo genetic variation. It has been hypothesized that rare variation could be inherited and therefore contribute to the overall risk burden in subsequent generations, especially through female lineage in disorders with male-skewed sex ratios. Here, we tested this hypothesis using multigeneration information on paternal age, because burden of de novo mutations has been linked to paternal age, and there is a well-established association between older age of fathers and ASD.

We analyzed combined data from Sweden's, Denmark's, and Finland's national registers, totaling 12.6 million family members, including information about parental ages at the time of birth of offspring in 2 generations and ASD diagnosis in the third generation.

Among the 1,808,892 children in the third generation, 23,397 (1.29%) were diagnosed with ASD. Increased paternal age at the time of birth of a daughter was associated with increased risk of ASD in the daughter's own offspring. Increased paternal age at the time of birth of a son was not associated with increased ASD risk in the son's offspring, nor was older maternal age in the first or second generations. We observed that young maternal age at birth of a son or a daughter was associated with ASD risk in their offspring.

Collectively, our results suggest that etiologic risk factors for ASD could extend over multiple generations through different underlying mechanisms, suggesting new directions for research on genetic and nongenetic risk factors.