14 DAY TRIAL // The mental health of children has been linked to the age of mothers at conception in previous studies, but a clear body of evidence on the role that the age of fathers played in this has been lacking until now. In a new study, researchers at the University of Indiana and the Karolinska Institute have determined that the biological clocks of fathers are equally important in controlling kids' mental health.
In a paper published in the February 26 issue of the esteemed journal JAMA Psychiatry, experts provide more evidence that the ages of fathers at conception are important for the mental well-being of their children as well. The illnesses covered in this study included autism and ADHD.
The team discovered that children conceived when their fathers were older than 45 were 300 percent more likely to develop autism, and 1,300 percent more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than children fathered by men between the ages of 20 and 24.
The research paper also shows that children fathered by older men tended to fare worse in school overall, and developed substance (alcohol, tobacco, and drugs) abuse problems more often. “Paternal age may have a stronger effect than we previously realized,” researcher Brian D'Onofrio says.
The expert, who holds an appointment as an associate professor of psychology at the University of Indiana, is the lead author of the JAMA Psychiatry paper. He says that another study published last month in the same journal found that children of older fathers tended to display a higher incidence of autism and schizophrenia as well.
The new investigation centered on several million parents in Sweden, who had children between 1973 and 2001. Researchers analyzed both mothers' and fathers' ages at conception, and then correlated these values to the psychiatric health levels of their children. “There's a growing body of literature that suggests that advancing paternal age is associated with a host of problems,” D'Onofrio explains.
Interestingly, scientists found that this correlation between paternal age and offspring mental health problems held true even within the same extended family. The team also kept a close eye on the siblings and cousins of kids targeted by their study, NPR reports.
“This study gives a bigger picture. The older age of dads is associated with not just one disorder or another, but with a large number of adverse developmental outcomes,” comments Mount Sinai School of Medicine psychiatry Professor Avraham Reichenberg, who was not a part of the study.
However, the team admits that other environmental and epigenetic factors might be at work in underlying this correlation. The epigenetic argument holds that triggers or risk factors in the environment can determine changes in the genome that may not occur in children with young fathers.
More work is needed to figure out exactly what the nature of this connection is, the team concludes.