Children conceived by older fathers are more likely to develop early-onset schizophrenia, and every 10 years on a father’s age increases the probability of the condition in their children by 30 percent, researchers said on Friday.
Although congenital disorders have previously been linked to the age of the mother, few studies have focused on the relationship between paternal age and children’s health, said Chen Wei-jen (陳為堅), a professor of public health at National Taiwan University.
After examining the family history of about 2,900 people with schizophrenia, Chen’s team determined that advanced paternal age could be correlated to early-onset schizophrenia, defined as developing the condition before 18, he said.
Photo: Wu Liang-yi, Taipei Times
The team conducted a genomic analysis on about 1,700 people and their families, which indicated that each decade of paternal aging after 20 increases the child’s risk of early-onset schizophrenia by a factor of 1.28, he said.
There are two hypotheses that could explain the correlation: one is that the quality of sperm — which is created by cell division through the entire life of males — tends to decline with multiplying genetic mutations, resulting in congenital disorders among offspring; the second is that the phenomenon is caused by other characteristics, such as a pre-existing history of mental illness, the team said.
About 66 percent of children conceived by men aged 50 or older will develop some kind of early-onset mental illness, said Wang Shi-heng (王世亨), an associate professor of occupational safety and health at China Medical University.
The ideal age to father children is 25 to 29, when the sperm is fully developed and relatively free of mutations, he said.
Ministry of the Interior data from 2017 showed that the average age for Taiwanese men to have their first child was 34.5, up from 30.3 in 1991.
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