not a good outlook for me, even worse if i have a child

The story is here.

Older fathers are more likely than younger fathers to have autistic children, experts have warned. Children born to fathers over 40 are said to be around six times more likely to suffer from autism compared to those born to dads under 30. However, the researchers who looked at 132,271 children born in Israel during the 1980s found no link between a mother's age and autism.

For a father aged 15 to 29 when a child was born, the risk of autism was said to be six in every 10,000 children.

This rose to nine in 10,000 children if the father was aged 30 to 39 and 32 in 10,000 for fathers aged 40 to 49.

Dr Abraham Reichenberg, from the the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said: "This research adds to our knowledge that men also have a biological clock when it comes to reproducing.

"The sample size for the over-50s was small so we added it to the results for fathers aged over 40, but our research suggests that very old fathers have around nine times the risk."

Children and people with autism disorders often display problems with language and social interaction, and show repetitive patterns of behaviour.

Experts believe autism is becoming more common, affecting 50 in every 10,000 children compared with five in 10,000 20 years ago.

Better diagnosis has contributed to the rise but experts also believe there may be more cases.

Wonderful. Yet another strike against me.