Have A Child With Autism? You May Be Unlikely To Try for Another
It's sad. But families with an autistic child are about one-third less likely to have another child, according to newswise.com. "While it has been postulated that parents who have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be reluctant to have more children, this is the first time that anyone has analyzed the question with hard numbers,” said Neil Risch, PhD, a UCSF professor of epidemiology and biostatistics and director of the UCSF Institute for Human Genetics. The Web site notes that the study is the first to provide convincing statistical evidence that "reproductive stoppage exists and should be taken into account when calculating the risks for having a another child with ASD,” said Risch, who is senior author on the paper. “These findings have important implications for genetic counseling of affected families.” Overall, families whose first child had ASD were one-third less likely to have a second child than control families, the study found. F...