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New
York
University
Medical
Center
and
School
of
Medicine
Older
fathers
substantially
raise
the
risk
of
having
children
with
schizophrenia
New
York,
April
12,
2001
-
While
older
women
run
a
higher
risk
of
having
babies
with
birth
defects,
it
has
long
been
presumed
that
men
could
have
healthy
children
at
any
age.
Think
again.
A
new
study
now
shows
that
older
fathers
are
far
more
likely
to
have
children
with
schizophrenia,
while
the
age
of
the
mother
appears
to
have
no
influence
on
the
likelihood
of
her
offspring
developing
this
devastating
disease.
The
study
showed
a
strong,
steady
increase
in
the
risk
of
having
children
with
the
disease
as
men
aged.
Men
aged
45
to
49
were
twice
as
likely
to
have
children
with
schizophrenia
as
men
under
the
age
of
25
who
became
fathers,
while
the
risk
tripled
for
men
over
the
age
of
50,
according
to
an
analysis
of
a
large
population
of
over
85,000
people
by
researchers
from
New
York
University
School
of
Medicine,
Columbia
University
College
of
Physicians
&
Surgeons,
and
Israel's
Ministry
of
Health.
"Women
are
often
made
to
feel
responsible
for
problems
occurring
during
pregnancy,
especially
if
anything
goes
wrong
with
their
children's
health,
but
this
new
study
shows
that
men
also
contribute,"
says
Susan
Harlap,
M.D.,
Research
Professor
of
Epidemiology
in
the
Department
of
Obstetrics
and
Gynecology
at
NYU
School
of
Medicine
and
an
author
of
the
new
study.
"There
has
been
some
previous
research
showing
that
men
contribute
to
rare
genetic
abnormalities
in
their
offspring.
Schizophrenia,
by
comparison,
is
common,
affecting
1%
of
all
populations
worldwide,"
says
Dr.
Harlap.
"I
would
guess
that
our
study
is
just
the
tip
of
the
iceberg.
Eventually
it
would
seem
that
the
father's
sperm
is
going
to
turn
out
to
be
just
as
important
as
the
mother's
egg."
The
new
findings,
however,
shouldn't
deter
older
men
from
becoming
fathers,
says
Dr.
Harlap.
"I
don't
think
that
older
men
should
disqualify
themselves
from
becoming
parents.
At
any
particular
age,
there
is
always
a
trade-off.
Our
study
suggests
that
a
man's
progeny
are
going
to
be
healthiest
if
he
has
his
children
during
his
early
20s.
But
we
know
that
many
men
aren't
ready
for
marriage
and
parenthood
at
that
age.
A
man
may
want
to
wait
until
he
is
mature
enough
and
economically
stable
enough
to
have
children,
even
though
there
are
health
risks
involved
in
having
children
at
an
older
age."
The
study,
published
in
the
April
issue
of
the
journal
Archives
of
General
Psychiatry,
is
the
first
time
advancing
paternal
age
has
been
linked
to
a
psychiatric
rather
than
a
physical
illness,
says
Dolores
Malaspina,
M.D.,
Associate
Professor
of
Clinical
Psychiatry
at
Columbia
University
College
of
Physicians
&
Surgeons
and
lead
author
of
the
study.
"A
man
has
a
biological
clock,
too.
Men
should
be
aware
of
the
risks
when
they
do
their
family
planning,"
she
said.
Overall,
the
researchers
found
that
26.6%
of
the
schizophrenia
cases
could
be
attributed
to
the
dad's
age.
And
for
fathers
over
the
age
of
50,
two
out
of
three
cases
of
schizophrenia
among
their
children
could
be
attributed
to
the
effects
of
paternal
age.
Schizophrenia
is
a
devastating
brain
disorder
and
the
most
disabling
of
severe
mental
illnesses.
It
afflicts
about
1.1
percent
of
adults
or
about
2.2
million
people
in
the
United
States,
according
to
the
National
Institute
of
Mental
Health.
About
the
same
percentage
are
affected
in
countries
around
the
world,
which
is
one
of
the
puzzles
of
the
disease.
If
caused
by
environmental
factors,
then
presumably
the
disease
would
only
arise
in
certain
parts
of
the
world.
No
one
knows
what
causes
schizophrenia,
but
it
is
suspected
that
many
genes
contribute
to
it.
The
researchers
believe
that
the
new
study
can
explain
why
the
incidence
of
schizophrenia
remains
fairly
constant
in
all
populations
over
time.
They
suggest
that
new
mutations
are
being
introduced
at
a
constant
rate
in
the
disease
genes.
In
older
men,
the
cells
that
eventually
become
sperm
have
already
divided
hundreds
of
times.
Each
of
these
divisions,
like
a
lottery,
has
been
an
opportunity
for
chance
mutations
to
occur
in
one
or
more
of
the
genes
causing
schizophrenia.
On
the
other
hand,
a
woman's
egg
cells
divide
only
24
times,
and
almost
all
the
divisions
occur
during
fetal
life.
So
it
is
less
likely
that
new
mutations
would
be
transmitted
through
a
woman's
egg.
The
study
used
data
assembled
from
two
sources:
a
large
population-based
research
database
called
the
Jerusalem
Perinatal
Study
and
a
national
Israeli
registry
of
psychiatric
disease.
The
psychiatric
registry,
established
by
the
Ministry
of
Health
in
1950,
receives
information
about
all
psychiatric
illnesses,
including
reports
from
patients
admitted
to
psychiatric
wards
within
general
hospitals
and
psychiatric
day-care
facilities.
The
Jerusalem
Perinatal
Study
at
Hebrew
University
surveyed
the
health
of
more
than
90,000
children
born
in
Jerusalem
from
1964
to
1976.
Both
databases
are
strictly
confidential
and
the
research
team
in
the
U.S.
was
allowed
access
to
the
files
only
after
the
names
and
other
identifying
information
had
been
removed.
Of
the
1,337
individuals
in
the
study
who
were
admitted
to
psychiatric
units
before
1998,
658
were
diagnosed
with
schizophrenia
and
related
psychoses,
according
to
the
study.
After
controlling
for
a
number
of
factors
(a
statistical
method
that
adjusts
certain
variables
to
reveal
associations),
including
maternal
age,
the
researchers
found
that
paternal
age
was
strongly
associated
with
a
diagnosis
of
schizophrenia,
but
not
with
the
other
psychiatric
disorders.
ABOUT
DR.
HARLAP
-
Dr.
Harlap
is
Research
Professor
of
Epidemiology
in
the
Department
of
Obstetrics
and
Gynecology
at
NYU
School
of
Medicine.
Her
research
has
focused
on
many
women's
health
issues,
including
the
benefits
and
risks
of
birth
control
pills,
effects
of
alcohol
on
the
fetus,
birth
defects,
infant
deaths,
fertility,
and
infertility.
Her
current
research
interests
include
how
breast,
ovarian
and
other
cancers
of
the
reproductive
system
affect
fertility.
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