Autism Spectrum Disorder: 6 Risk Factors You May Want To Know About

We have a pretty good idea, today, of what doesn't cause autism — vaccines, "refrigerator mothers", cow's milk, watching TV, and being exposed to cell phones and cell phone towers, for instance. Or aliens, for that matter. Though thoroughly debunked, there are still people peddling these outrageous theories. 

1. Genetic factors

This is a big one! Sibling and twin research has established that people who have an autistic brother or sister are much more likely than others to be on the spectrum themselves. Furthermore, children born to people who have autistic traits have higher odds of being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. It's not that uncommon for a parent of a newly diagnosed autistic child to set off on a journey of exploration of what autism really means, only to realize that they hit many of the diagnostic criteria themselves. Yup, this can eventually lead those parents, who grew up in a time before widespread awareness of the broad nature of the autism spectrum, to receive their very own diagnosis in adulthood. 

2. Male sex and gender?

Autism is still diagnosed in boys more often than in girls, at a ratio of four to one. There may be genetic and neurological explanations for this, research says, so autism really may be more common in males than in females. Because autism tends to present differently in females of any age as well, however, as girls are socialized differently, there is no doubt that many cases of autism in girls have gone undiagnosed. 

3. Complications during pregnancy

Complications during pregnancy and birth — gestational diabetes, heavy bleeding during pregnancy, preterm labor, exposure to certain drugs (including valproate), and a low birth weight — have also been identified as potential risk factors for autism. It's not yet clear why this is the case, and further research needs to be conducted to gain a better picture. 

4. Having engineers in the family?

This is quite an interesting one! One study found that people diagnosed with autism were more likely to have an engineer for a dad. The same study discovered that autistic folks are also more likely to have grandparents, either on their mother's side or their father's side, qho qualified as engineers. Similarly, fathers of autistic people also opted to become accountants or scientists in higher numbers. To throw an even more stereotypical notion into the equation, Dutch research revealed that autism is more prevalent in areas with lots of IT jobs. 

5. Adverse events such as natural disasters?

There's research out there to suggest that children whose mothers were pregnant during times of stress are more likely to become autistic. This idea is based both on reports from their mothers and on more objective data. For instance, the prevalence of autism in Louisiana shot up after hurricanes and tropical storms. Some people speculate that this phenomenon, which is linked to epigenetics (the process of switching certain genes on and off, as it were), somehow benefits humanity. Maybe some of the unique strengths of people on the spectrum are needed after times of crisis. 

6. Being born to older parents?

Research has established that children born to mothers over the age of 35 and fathers over 40 are more likely to have autism spectrum disorder. What's even more interesting is that this particular link is even stronger when we're looking at first-born children, as opposed to babies born to older parents who already have a few siblings born when the parents were younger. 

 What does all this mean?

Though modern science has enabled us all to have an increasingly thorough grasp on the kinds of factors that increase the odds that a child will be autistic, we're quite far from having the full picture. A combination of genetic and environmental factors ultimately come together to result in the birth of a person who will later be diagnosed with autism. 

Reading up about the risk factors is fascinating, true — but here's what it doesn't do. It can't predict whether a child you haven't conceived yet will be on the spectrum, or whether a child you're currently pregnant with is autistic. It shouldn't send parents of newly-diagnosed autistic children off on a guilt-trip along the lines of "if only we'd have been younger when we had children..." either. Once an autism diagnosis comes along, there's little point in looking back to pour over what individual risk factors may have contributed to your child's neurology. 

It's important to remember that autism isn't either a disease or a disaster. It's a neurological profile common to people who have both unique weaknesses and unique strengths, but who can have any level of intelligence, language skills, and support needs. People with autism can — no matter what contributed to them being born autistic — live full, productive, and satisfying lives.