Paternal age and schizophrenia in dizygotic twins

The British Journal of Psychiatry (2000) 176: 400-401
© 2000 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Paternal age and schizophrenia in dizygotic twins
L. B. Raschka
360 Bloor Street West, Suite 204, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1X1


EDITED BY LOUISE HOWARD

Crow (1999) reported that dizygotic twinning increases with parental age as does the incidence of schizophrenia. Our study of 574 patients with schizophrenia showed that the incidence of schizophrenia increases with paternal age (Raschka, 1998). Scientific publications reported increased incidence of at least 12 illnesses with increased paternal age. The rate of mutations in spermatogenesis increases with age (Penrose, 1955; Vogel & Motulsky, 1979; Raschka, 1995; Sankaranarayanan, 1998). Other age-related changes are also known to occur in spermatogenesis. The study of the effect of paternal age could yield useful information regarding the reported greater occurrence of schizophrenia in dizygotic twins.

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Crow, T. J. (1999) Twin studies of psychosis and the genetics of cerebral asymmetry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 399-401.[Free Full Text]

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Raschka, L. B. (1995) On older fathers. American Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 1404.[CrossRef][Medline]

Raschka, L. B. (1998) Parental age and schizophrenia. Magyar Andrologia, 3, 47-50.

Sankaranarayanan, K. (1998) Ionizing radiation and genetic risks IX. Estimates of the frequencies of Mendelian diseases and spontaneous mutation rates in human populations: a 1998 perspective. Mutation Research, 411, 129-178.[CrossRef][Medline]

Vogel, F. & Motulsky, A. G. (1979) Human Genetics: Problems and Approaches. Berlin: Springer Verlag.