Paternal age and Down syndrome in British Columbia.
Among Down syndrome cases born in 1964--1976 reported to the British Columbia Registry for Handicapped Children, the mean parental age was about half a year greater than in the entire population of live births after controlling for maternal age, a difference significant at the .05 level. After adjustment for maternal age, a regression analysis was consistent with an increase of 1.024-fold for each year of paternal age. Among Down syndrome cases in 1952--1963, however, for which ascertainment appears likely to be less complete, there was no evidence for a significant paternal age effect. The reasons for the variation between the two groups investigated here and the heterogeneity in results among studies of other populations are discussed.
D001955:British Columbia; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D008875:Middle Aged; D010331:Paternal Age; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies