A new study suggests that older fathers may have children with bipolar disorder. This risk
begin to increase when men are older than 29 and they get married. And it reaches at its peak when men are over 55.
Some other diseases like schizophrenia and autism are also linked with increasing parental age, but it’s a first study that suggests bipolar disorder or manic depression also has link with increasing parental age.
This Swedish study has been published in Archives of Psychiatry and it tells that ageing sperm may be a factor behind that increasing risk.
The Karolinska Institute researchers say in this connection, it involves copying DNA in the process of making sperm in men and this process is considered prone to error as men get older.
Emma Frans, who led the study, said: “Women come in this world with their full supply of eggs and that’s why DNA copy errors do not increase as women get older.”
