Parental age, socioeconomic status and parity related with the clinical phenotypes in children with autism spectrum disorder

Few studies have explored the association between parental characteristics such as parental age, socioeconomic status and parity and autistic clinical phenotypes. The current study examined whether parental characteristics and walking age are associated with autistic clinical phenotypes by the autistic cohort. A total of 835 autistic children were recruited from 2015 to 2019. Clinical phenotypes of autistic children included severity of autism, cognitive development, adaptive development, language development, and regression. Logistic regression models and linear regression models were used to examine the association of the related factors with autistic clinical phenotypes. The results revealed parental age, socioeconomic status, parity and walking age associated with autistic clinical phenotypes, such as the severity of autism and the related symptoms of autistic children. These findings indicated that low parental socioeconomic status, advancing parental age and prolific parity were associated with the worse clinical phenotypes. In addition, walking age may be the early marker for the later potential developmental delay of autistic children. Future research was needed to explore the possible role of modifiable parental exposures with autistic clinical phenotypes.
Keywords: Autism; Parental age; Parental socioeconomic status; Parity; Clinical Phenotypes; Children