Old News But Kept From the Public

Schizophrenia Risk and Father's Age

In a separate article, a study conducted by Dolores Malaspina, MD, a research psychiatrist at New York State Psychiatric Institute and associate professor at Columbia University, shows a link between father's age and the child's risk of developing schizophrenia. The study, published in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, indicates that if the father is over the age of 40 at the time of conception it doubles the child's risk of developing schizophrenia. Dr. Malaspina told WebMD, "Father's age is certainly as important and may be even more important than mother's age in terms of schizophrenia risk and in terms of many birth defects as well. For the last 20 years, it's been quite clear that fathers above age 40 have at least a one in 200 incidence of new genetic diseases in their children."