IS ANYONE TRYING TO PREVENT MORE CASES OF AUTISM AND SCHIZOPHRENIA?

TAKEN FROM THE ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION BLOG


What are many psychiatrists interested in? Are they interested in the public knowing the robust, dramatic connection between advancing paternal age and autism/the childhood schizophrenia type and schizophrenia? No they are not.

Dolores Malaspina, This interview took place on April 26, 2006, and was conducted by Norman Sussman, MD.




"The most irrefutable finding is our demonstration that a father’s age is a major risk factor for schizophrenia. We were the first group to show that schizophrenia is linearly related to paternal age and that the risk is tripled for the offspring of the oldest groups of fathers.7 This finding has been born out in every single cohort study that has looked at paternal age and the risk for schizophrenia. The only other finding that has been as consistently replicated in schizophrenia research is that there is an increased risk associated with a family history of schizophrenia. Since only 10% to 15% of schizophrenia cases have a family history, family history does not explain much of the population risk for schizophrenia. However, we think that approximately one third or one quarter of all schizophrenia cases may be attributable to paternal age. Paternal age is the major source of de novo genetic diseases in the human population, which was first described by Penrose8 in the 1950s. He hypothesized that this was due to copy errors that arose in the male germ line over the many cycles of sperm cell replications. These mutations accumulate as paternal age advances. After the Penrose report, medical researchers identified scores of sporadic diseases in the offspring of older fathers, suggesting that these could occur from gene mutations. Particular attention was paid to conditions in last-born children. In the 1960s, an excess of schizophrenia in last-born children was also reported..."





Thomas Wassink is an associate professor of psychiatry.

Is he interested in preventing autism through publicizing the link between paternal age with mutations in sperm and autism? NO. Wassink says they did further study to narrow down the gene mutation. Wassink says, "At some point in the embryonic development of the father, an abnormality occurred or a mutation arose in his primordial sperm cell."


He says the finding could eventually help with treatments for autism.

Wassink says it may indicate different types of medications to try in treating autism. He is an associate professor of psychiatry, and says this study does not show any link to an earlier study that indicated that the chances for autism increased with the age of the father. Wassink says age is not a factor in this finding." not showing any link to an earlier study that indicated that the chances for autism increased with the age of the father. Wassink says age is not a factor in this finding, but he says nothing about the age of this father. When asked he and other psychiatrists on the study will not reveal the age of the father. One Dr. said:

"Because the mutation is identical in the two siblings, it is likely that it occurred during germ-line development and so paternal age is unlikely to be relevant." UNLIKELY

"The reason is that the deletion is identical in the two siblings. For two identical deletions to occur in different sperm by chance is so unlikely as to be almost inconceivable. The deletion had to come from a progenitor sperm cell, and is unlikely to be related to the paternal age effect reported in autism." Thanks for the interest,







De novo point mutations in such genes could explain the advanced paternal age association that has been reported for autism13. There is no evidence, however, that the risk of a de novo CNV is related to the age of either parent. Arthur L. Beaudet


Dolores Malaspina, M.D.
New Point Mutations in Humans Are Introduced Through The Male Line" This Has Been Known Since the 1950s", "What is Intriguing is why society chooses
to ignore this"

Dolores Malaspina, M.D.

Eur Psychiatry. 2007 Jan;22(1):22-6. Epub 2006 Dec 4.


Paternal ages below or above 35 years old are associated with a different risk of schizophrenia in the offspring.


Wohl M, Gorwood P.

INSERM U675, 16 rue Henri Huchard 75018 Paris, France.

BACKGROUND: A link between older age of fatherhood and an increased risk of schizophrenia was detected in 1958. Since then, 10 studies attempted to replicate this result with different methods, on samples with different origins, using different age classes. Defining a cut-off at which the risk is significantly increased in the offspring could have an important impact on public health. METHODS: A meta-analysis (Meta Win) was performed, assessing the mean effect size for each age class, taking into account the difference in age class references, and the study design. RESULTS: An increased risk is detected when paternal age is below 20 (compared to 20-24), over 35 (compared to below 35), 39 (compared to less than 30), and 54 years old (compared to less than 25). Interestingly, 35 years appears nevertheless to be the lowest cut-off where the OR is always above 1, whatever the age class reference, and the smallest value where offspring of fathers below or above this age have a significantly different risk of schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: No threshold can be precisely defined, but convergent elements indicate ages below or above 35 years. Using homogeneous age ranges in future studies could help to clarify a precise threshold.



Philip Gorwood

Philip Gorwood