In men with a high level of intelligence in 31% of most children born with autism, scientists have found.
The results of their study they presented at an International meeting of experts for the study of autism in San Francisco.
During the study, researchers gathered medical records for 309 803 children whose fathers were drafted into the Swedish army, gaining high scores in the technical part of the Swedish test on IQ.
The result was that men with an IQ of 111 and above children with autism were born on third more often than those whose IQ was about 100.
Scientists note that the study took into account such factors as level of education, socio-economic status of the family, age of parents and others.
The connection IQ of the father with the risk of mental retardation or development of the syndrome of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children was the opposite. So, for men with an IQ of 75 and lower the risk of developing ADHD in their children was 65% above average.
The study authors noted that the findings still can’t explain what the cause of autism. In addition, the work was not taken into account the data about mothers. This information was unavailable — if the data on fathers were researchers from the army archives, information about the mothers was nowhere to take.
