TY - JOUR
T1 - Paternal age and psychiatric disorders
T2 - A review
AU - de Kluiver, Hilde
AU - Buizer-Voskamp, Jacobine E.
AU - Dolan, Conor V.
AU - Boomsma, Dorret I.
PY - 2017/4/1
Y1 - 2017/4/1
N2 - We review the hypotheses concerning the association between the paternal age at childbearing and childhood psychiatric disorders (autism spectrum- and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder) and adult disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar-, obsessive–compulsive-, and major depressive disorder) based on epidemiological studies. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the paternal age effect. We discuss the four main—not mutually exclusive—hypotheses. These are the de novo mutation hypothesis, the hypothesis concerning epigenetic alterations, the selection into late fatherhood hypothesis, and the environmental resource hypothesis. Advanced paternal age in relation to autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia provided the most robust epidemiological evidence for an association, with some studies reporting a monotonic risk increase over age, and others reporting a marked increase at a given age threshold. Although there is evidence for the de novo mutation hypothesis and the selection into late fatherhood hypothesis, the mechanism(s) underlying the association between advanced paternal age and psychiatric illness in offspring remains to be further clarified.
AB - We review the hypotheses concerning the association between the paternal age at childbearing and childhood psychiatric disorders (autism spectrum- and attention deficit/hyperactive disorder) and adult disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar-, obsessive–compulsive-, and major depressive disorder) based on epidemiological studies. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the paternal age effect. We discuss the four main—not mutually exclusive—hypotheses. These are the de novo mutation hypothesis, the hypothesis concerning epigenetic alterations, the selection into late fatherhood hypothesis, and the environmental resource hypothesis. Advanced paternal age in relation to autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia provided the most robust epidemiological evidence for an association, with some studies reporting a monotonic risk increase over age, and others reporting a marked increase at a given age threshold. Although there is evidence for the de novo mutation hypothesis and the selection into late fatherhood hypothesis, the mechanism(s) underlying the association between advanced paternal age and psychiatric illness in offspring remains to be further clarified.
KW - autism spectrum disorder
KW - bipolar disorder
KW - epidemiological evidence
KW - paternal age effect
KW - schizophrenia
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992428928&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/ajmg.b.32508
DO - 10.1002/ajmg.b.32508
M3 - Review article
C2 - 27770494
AN - SCOPUS:84992428928
VL - 174
SP - 202
EP - 213
JO - American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics
JF - American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics
SN - 1552-4841
IS - 3
ER -