Mice with older fathers have different gene expression patterns in their brains than do mice with younger fathers, reports a study published 23 March in Molecular Autism. Many of the differences involve genes linked to autism.

Parents who have a child with autism often decide not to have any more children, according to a study published last week in JAMA Psychiatry.

In the past few years, several studies have implicated fathers’ age more strongly than mothers’ in increasing autism risk. Although older fathers have more spontaneous mutations in their sperm than younger fathers do, no one has shown that these accumulating mutations contribute to autism risk in their children, argues Daniel Weinberger.

Children born to fathers older than 45 years have a heightened risk of developing a range of conditions, from autism to addiction, according to a large Swedish study published 1 April in JAMA Psychiatry.

Children living in low-income neighborhoods with high unemployment rates are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than are children who live in high-income communities, reports a large Swedish study published 26 February in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Two large Scandinavian studies confirm the long-standing theory that older men have a higher risk of fathering children with autism, but they disagree on how a mother’s age drives risk of the disorder.

Studies with the best quality ratings and the largest sample sizes showed no increased risk of autism for children born from assisted reproductive technologies, reports a review published in the December issue of Human Reproduction.

Researchers weigh in on the mounting evidence for a paternal-age effect in autism and what it might reveal about evolutionary mechanisms underlying the disorder.

Certain mutations may hijack the normal mechanisms of sperm production, leading to an enrichment of mutant sperm in older fathers, and to the paternal-age effect in autism.

Latino children with autism are diagnosed an average of a year later than their white peers and receive fewer services, reports the June issue of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.