Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21116277›Full record

SynthesisMolecular psychiatry2011

Advancing paternal age and risk of autism: new evidence from a population-based study and a meta-analysis of epidemiological studies.

C M Hultman, S Sandin, S Z Levine, P Lichtenstein, A Reichenberg

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-Analysis
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Molecular psychiatry, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 168 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
168citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
15.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

168 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 436 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  13. Age, Race, and Ethnicity of Maternal Grandparents in Autism Spectrum Disorder, a California Multigenerational Study.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2025
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Male aging in germ cells: What are we inheriting?Genetics and molecular biology · 2025
    Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article

108 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.

C M HultmanDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
S Sandin
S Z Levine
P Lichtenstein
A Reichenberg
Karolinska Institutet · SEBar-Ilan University · ILKing's College London · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Advanced paternal age has been suggested as a risk factor for autism, but empirical evidence is mixed. This study examines whether the association between paternal age and autism in the offspring (1) persists controlling for documented autism risk factors, including family psychiatric history, perinatal conditions, infant characteristics and demographic variables; (2) may be explained by familial traits associated with the autism phenotype, or confounding by parity; and (3) is consistent across epidemiological studies. Multiple study methods were adopted. First, a Swedish 10-year birth cohort (N=1 075 588) was established. Linkage to the National Patient Register ascertained all autism cases (N=883). Second, 660 families identified within the birth cohort had siblings discordant for autism. Finally, meta-analysis included population-based epidemiological studies. In the birth cohort, autism risk increased monotonically with increasing paternal age. Offspring of men aged ≥50 years were 2.2 times (95% confidence interval: 1.26-3.88: P=0.006) more likely to have autism than offspring of men aged ≤29 years, after controlling for maternal age and documented risk factors for autism. Within-family analysis of discordant siblings showed that affected siblings had older paternal age, adjusting for maternal age and parity (P<0.0001). Meta-analysis demonstrated advancing paternal age association with increased risk of autism across studies. These findings provide the strongest evidence to date that advanced paternal age is a risk factor for autism in the offspring. Possible biological mechanisms include de novo aberration and mutations or epigenetic alterations associated with aging.

Indexed as

Paternal AgeAdolescentAdultAutistic DisorderCohort StudiesDatabases, FactualFamily HealthFemaleHumansMaleMaternal AgeMiddle AgedRisk FactorsSiblingsSweden

Identifiers

PMID21116277
OpenAlexW2085058791

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.