Paternal age and schizophrenia: a population based cohort study

doi:10.1136/bmj.38243.672396.55

BMJ 2004;329:1070 (6 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.38243.672396.55 (published 22 October 2004)

Paper

Paternal age and schizophrenia: a population based cohort study

Attila Sipos, honorary senior clinical lecturer in psychiatry¹, Finn Rasmussen, senior clinical lecturer and associate professor of epidemiology², Glynn Harrison, professor of mental health¹, Per Tynelius, senior statistician², Glyn Lewis, professor of psychiatric epidemiology¹, David A Leon, professor of epidemiology³, David Gunnell, professor of epidemiology⁴

¹ Academic Unit of Psychiatry, Cotham House, University of Bristol BS6 6JL, ² Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, Norrbacka, SE-17176 Stockholm, Sweden, ³ Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, ⁴ Department of Social Medicine, Canynge Hall, Bristol BS8 2PR

Correspondence to: F Rasmussen finn.rasmussen{at}phs.ki.se

Objective To investigate the association of paternal age atconception with the risk of offspring developing schizophrenia.

Design A population based cohort study.

Setting Sweden.

Subjects 754 330 people born in Sweden between 1973 and 1980and still alive and resident in Sweden at age 16 years.

Main outcome measures Hospital admission with schizophreniaor non-schizophrenic, non-affective psychosis.

Results After adjustment for birth related exposures, socioeconomicfactors, family history of psychosis, and early parental deaththe overall hazard ratio for each 10 year increase in paternalage was 1.47 (95% confidence interval 1.23 to 1.76) for schizophreniaand 1.12 (0.98 to 1.29) for non-schizophrenic non-affectivepsychosis. This association between paternal age and schizophreniawas present in those with no family history of the disorder(hazard ratio for each 10 year increase in paternal age 1.60,1.32 to 1.92), but not in those with a family history (0.91,0.44 to 1.89) (P = 0.04 for interaction).

Conclusions Advancing paternal age is an important independentrisk factor for schizophrenia. The stronger association betweenpaternal age and schizophrenia in people without a family historyprovides further evidence that accumulation of de novo mutationsin paternal sperm contributes to the overall risk of schizophrenia.

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This could be due to low DHEA...: James M. Howard
bmj.com, 24 Oct 2004 [Full text]
Mistheory? Re: This could be due to low DHEA...: Adrian S. Blaj
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Yin, yang and yin-yang.: Richard G Fiddian-Green
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Re: Mistheory? Re: This could be due to low DHEA...: James M. Howard
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It is my hypothesis that...: Adrian S. Blaj
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One swallow does not make a summer: Marco Procopio
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