Paternal age and schizophrenia: further support for an association.
OBJECTIVE
Advanced paternal age has been proposed as a risk factor for later development of schizophrenia in offspring, although studies are not conclusive. De novo mutations arising in paternal germ cells have been suggested as the underlying mechanism.


METHODS
The hypothesized association was investigated in a population-based case-control study comprising 524 subjects with schizophrenia and 1,043 matched comparison subjects selected from registers. Birth records with data on parental age were retrieved manually. Odds ratios were computed, with controls for maternal age, parity, marital status, socioeconomic status, maternal psychotic illness, and obstetric complications.


RESULTS
The odds of schizophrenia in offspring of fathers 45 years old or older were 2.8 times as great as in offspring of fathers aged 20-24 years.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings confirm previous reports of a higher risk for schizophrenia associated with advanced paternal age. They may be of interest for further studies on the genetic mechanisms behind schizophrenia.
Psychiatric Epidemiology-PEP, Stockholm Centre of Public Health, Sweden. christina.dalman@smd.sll.se
Christina
C
Dalman
Peter
P
Allebeck
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010331:Paternal Age; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology