What is the genetic risk of developing autism in the children of siblings of people with autism?
We estimate the risk in a sibling of a child with autism to have autistic disorder to be around 5-8% currently. If the sibling of a child with autism is not autistic and has had no developmental abnormalities in his/her development, it is very likely that the genetic risks in her/his own offspring will be very low and close to the risk in the general population. However, if that sibling has had developmental problems thought to be part of the broader phenotype of autism, or if the sibling marries with someone with similar developmental problems in his genetic background, the risk might be higher but is currently impossible to quantify precisely.
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