Children of both young and old parents share risk for certain neurodevelopment disorders

Summary: Children of younger parents are at increased risk of ADHD and Tourette syndrome, while children of older parents are at more risk of being diagnosed with OCD and autism.

Source: Elsevier

Results of a new study in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP), published by Elsevier, reports that parental age is linked to the risk for the development of neuropsychiatric disorders in children, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD); attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); and Tourette’s disorder/chronic tic disorder (TD/CT).

Both young and old parental age, at conception, has previously shown an increased risk of several neuropsychiatric disorders in offspring, including ASD, ADHD and schizophrenia.

The study provides novel evidence about the connection between age at parenthood and risk for TD/CT and OCD in children, validating previously reported associations between younger parental age and ADHD, and older parental age and ASD.

“For the first time in a population-based sample, our research shows that parental age is connected to differential risks for pediatric-onset psychiatric disorders,” said first author Magdalena Janecka, PhD, and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, New York, NY, US.

“These results are consistent with a model that includes shared and distinct risk architecture for childhood neuropsychiatric conditions and highlight that there are unique contributions of parental age to risk in the children.”

Researchers at the Tics and OCD Program at the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment, both at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the University of Aarhus’ Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research (iPSYCH) performed a cross-diagnostic investigation of the effects of maternal and paternal ages at conception on childhood-onset neuropsychiatric conditions, using a large population-based sample.

The study cohort was made up of 1,490,745 individuals born in Denmark from 1980 through 2007 with detailed information on parental ages. The cohort was followed through December 2013. Cases of ASD, ADHD, OCD, and TD/CT were identified in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register and the National Patient Register.

This shows a baby's hand
Both young and old parental age, at conception, has previously shown an increased risk of several neuropsychiatric disorders in offspring, including ASD, ADHD and schizophrenia. The image is in the public domain.

Through these approaches, the investigators simultaneously examined the risk relationships between age at parenthood and several different psychiatric conditions in the offspring. They found that younger parental age was significantly associated with an increased risk for ADHD and TD/CT, whereas older parental age was associated with ASD and OCD.

The study however also found that the increase in risk associated with parental age at conception is small and should not influence individuals’ decisions on age to bear children.

According to Dr. Dorothy Grice, senior author and Director of the Tics and OCD Program at Mount Sinai, “We used a very large national cohort of 1.4 million children for this study and it allowed us more precision in examining the complex relationships between parental age and offspring risk for mental health conditions.

“Our study results will help guide the search for the specific mechanisms that affect risk for childhood psychiatric disorders.”

About this neuroscience research article

Source:
Elsevier
Media Contacts:
Mary Billingsley – Elsevier
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.

Original Research: Closed access
“Parental Age and Differential Estimates of Risk for Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Findings From the Danish Birth Cohort”. Magdalena Janecka, PhD, Stefan N. Hansen, PhD, Amirhossein Modabbernia, MD, Heidi A. Browne, MD, Joseph D. Buxbaum, PhD, Diana E. Schendel, PhD, Abraham Reichenberg, PhD, Erik T. Parner, PhDg, Dorothy E. Grice, MD.
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2018.09.447

Abstract

Parental Age and Differential Estimates of Risk for Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Findings From the Danish Birth Cohort

Objective
Parental age at birth has been shown to affect the rates of a range of neurodevelopmental disorders, but the understanding of the mechanisms through which it mediates different outcomes is still lacking. A population-based cohort was used to assess differential effects of parental age on estimates of risk across pediatric-onset neuropsychiatric disorders: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and Tourette syndrome/chronic tic disorder (TS/CT).

Method
The study cohort included all singleton births in Denmark from 1980 through 2007 with full information on parental ages (N = 1,490,745) and was followed through December 31, 2013. Cases of ASD, ADHD, OCD, and TS/CT were identified in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register and the National Patient Register. Associations with parental age were modeled using a stratified Cox regression, allowing for changes in baseline diagnostic rates across time.

Results
Younger parental age was significantly associated with increased estimates of risk for ADHD and TS/CT, whereas older parental age was associated with ASD and OCD. Except for OCD, no evidence for differential effects of parental ages on male versus female offspring was observed.

Conclusion
This study provides novel evidence for the association between age at parenthood and TS/CT and OCD and for the first time shows in a population-based sample that parental age confers differential risk rates for pediatric-onset psychiatric disorders. These results are consistent with a model of shared and unshared risk architecture for pediatric-onset neuropsychiatric conditions, highlighting unique contributions of maternal and paternal ages.

Feel free to share this Neuroscience News.
Join our Newsletter
I agree to have my personal information transferred to AWeber for Neuroscience Newsletter ( more information )
Sign up to receive our recent neuroscience headlines and summaries sent to your email once a day, totally free.
We hate spam and only use your email to contact you about newsletters. You can cancel your subscription any time.