title: [The association between paternal age and schizophrenia in a Chinese Han population].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether advanced paternal age is related to an increased risk of schizophrenia in Chinese Han population.
  
  
  METHODS
  A case-control design study was performed. Three hundred and fifty-one patients with schizophrenia and 199 unrelated healthy volunteers were recruited. By using Logistic regression, paternal age was divided into five categories, and maternal age into four categories. Setting the paternal age of 26-30 years as reference, the OR, P values and 95% CI of the other paternal age categories were analyzed, respectively. The participant's sex, age and parental age at birth were used as covariants for adjusting confounding effects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The OR for schizophrenia in offspring whose paternal age at birth of 31-35 years, 36-40 years, and ≥ 41 years categories were 3.834, 8.805, and 11.619 respectively. The advanced maternal age had no significant effects on the risk for schizophrenia in offspring.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The advanced paternal age was associated with elevated risk for schizophrenia in offspring among a Han Chinese population. Putative biological mechanisms may include accumulated de novo mutations and alterations in epigenetic regulations with aging in spermatogenesis.
authors.affiliation: The Mental Health Center and Psychiatric Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610041 P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yue-jing
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Gao-feng
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xiao-hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010331:Paternal Age; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult