|
A study from Sweden links schizophrenia with the age of the father. For every 10 years of additional age of the father, there's a 60 per cent increase in the risk of schizophrenia in their offspring. Schizophrenia affects about one in 100 people. It's where a person becomes divorced from reality because of disordered and delusional thinking which affects emotions, mood and behaviour. To prevent schizophrenia, the causes need to be understood. In some people it runs in their families. In others though, it's not so clear. Viral infections in pregnancy have been blamed as has the age of the father at the time of conception. The idea here is that the older the man the more likely he may be to have genetic mutations in his sperm. A study of 750,000 people in Sweden followed from birth to age 16, looked at various factors in their parents and their birth to try to eliminate other factors which could account for schizophrenia risk. And what they found was that where there was no family history of schizophrenia, for every 10 years older the father was, there was a 60 per cent increase in the risk of the disease in their offspring. It's possible that about 15 per cent of schizophrenia in the population could be explained by a paternal age greater than 30. It's hard to know what the implications are other than women shouldn't be the only focus of the "have babies younger" message. Blokes might need it too.
|
