Paternal age and epilepsy in the offspring

1: Eur J Epidemiol. 2005;20(12):1003-5. Links
Paternal age and epilepsy in the offspring.Vestergaard M, Mork A, Madsen KM, Olsen J.
The Danish Epidemiology Science Centre, Institute of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark. mv@soci.au.dk

Advanced paternal age is associated with a higher rate of de novo mutation in sperm cells and mental disorders in the offspring. In a population based cohort study of 96,654 children, we found that fathers aged 35 years or more were slightly more likely to have a child diagnosed with epilepsy compared to fathers aged 25-29 years. Our data suggest a modest paternal effect on the aetiology of epilepsy.