title: Paternal age and mental health of offspring.
abstract: The influence of paternal age on the risk for sporadic forms of Mendelian disorders is well known, but a burgeoning recent literature demonstrates, in addition, a paternal age effect for complex neuropsychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, and even for learning potential, expressed as intelligence. Mental illness is costly to patients, their family, and the public health system, accounting for the largest portion of disability costs in our economy. The delayed onset of neuropsychiatric conditions and lack of physical manifestations at birth are common frequencies in the population that have obscured the recognition that a portion of the risks for mental conditions is associated with paternal age. Identification of these risk pathways may be leveraged for knowledge about mental function and for future screening tests. However, only a small minority of at-risk offspring are likely to have such a psychiatric or learning disorder attributable to paternal age, including the children of older fathers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York. Electronic address: dolores.malaspina@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malaspina
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Caitlin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gilman
authors.affiliation: Departments of Cell Biology, Physiology & Neuroscience, and Psychiatry, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, New York University, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Thorsten Manfred
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kranz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D038622:Internationality; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010331:Paternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Paternal age; autism; mutation; psychiatric; schizophrenia