If all babies had fathers less than 30, the paper suggests the incidence of schizophrenia would reduce by at least 15%

Like the discovery of the connection between mothers over 35 and Down Syndrome Swedish Research that tracked over 700,000 young people published in 2004.



There is a "strong association" between men who become fathers after the age of 50 and of schizophrenia in their children, a study has found.

Swedish research that tracked over 700,000 young people found 15 per cent of schizophrenia cases could be attributed to older fathers. Researchers believe the link may be due to sperm mutations, which accumulate as men get older.

Compared with men who become fathers between 21 and 24, those who father children at the age of 50 or older have four to five times the chance of their offspring developing schizophrenia. The link was stronger if there was no family history of the disorder.

The link between schizophrenia and older paternity had been made before, but this was the first large study to look at a range of factors that could confound the results, said Professor John McGrath, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research.

"If all babies had fathers less than 30, the paper suggests, the incidence of schizophrenia would reduce by 15 per cent," he said.