Reproducibility of the association between advanced paternal age and schizophrenia is suggestive of a Causal Link

Advanced paternal age associated with an elevated risk for schizophrenia in offspring in a Japanese population
Auteur(s) / Author(s)
TSUCHIYA Kenji J. (1) ; TAKAGAI Shu (1) ; KAWAI Masayoshi (1) ; MATSUMOTO Hideo (2) ; NAKAMURA Kazuhiko (1) ; MINABE Yoshio (1) ; MORI Norio (1) ; TAKEI Nori (1 3) ;
Affiliation(s) du ou des auteurs / Author(s) Affiliation(s)
(1) Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, JAPON
(2) Department of Psychiatry, Tokai University School of Medicine, Isehara, JAPON
(3) Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, London, ROYAUME-UNI

Résumé / Abstract
Objective: Advanced paternal age at birth as a risk for schizophrenia in the adult offspring has been reported in previous studies exclusively conducted in Western countries and Israel. The question has arisen whether this finding could be replicated in countries with socially and culturally different attitudes toward marriage, including factors such as age at marriage. To address this question, we conducted a case-control study of a Japanese population. Methods: The subjects were representative inpatients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia. Unrelated healthy volunteers were recruited as control subjects. This study was conducted as one of a series of the projects by use of The Mother and Child Health Handbooks (MCHHs), from which information on parental characteristics around the time of birth, including parental ages at birth, had been extracted and recorded on computer. Results: Ninety-nine subjects with schizophrenia and 381 healthy control subjects enrolled for the study. Advanced paternal, but not maternal, age was associated with an elevated risk for schizophrenia. Reproducibility of the association across different cultures is suggestive of a causal link.
Revue / Journal Title
Schizophrenia research (Schizophr. res.) ISSN 0920-9964
Source / Source
2005, vol. 76, no2-3, pp. 337-342 [6 page(s) (article)] (18 ref.)
Langue / Language
Anglais

Editeur / Publisher
Elsevier Science, Amsterdam, PAYS-BAS (1988) (Revue)


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