Psychotic experiences are associated with paternal age but not with delayed fatherhood in a large, multinational, community sample

TY - JOUR

T1 - Psychotic experiences are associated with paternal age but not with delayed fatherhood in a large, multinational, community sample

AU - Schürhoff, Franck

AU - Pignon, Baptiste

AU - Lajnef, Mohamed

AU - Denis, Romain

AU - Rutten, Bart

AU - Morgan, Craig

AU - Murray, Robin M.

AU - Leboyer, Marion

AU - van Os, Jim

AU - Szöke, Andrei

PY - 2020/9/1

Y1 - 2020/9/1

N2 - Advanced paternal age has been consistently associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia. It is less known if such an association also exists with subclinical/attenuated forms of psychosis. Additionally, it has been suggested that it is not paternal age per se, but rather delayed fatherhood, as a marker of a genetic liability of psychosis, that is the cause of the association. The aim of the current study was to examine whether paternal age and/or delayed fatherhood (paternity age) predict self-reported positive, negative, and/ or depressive dimensions of psychosis in a large sample from the general population. The sample (N = 1465) was composed of control subjects from the 6 countries participating in the European Union Gene-Environment Interaction study. The CAPE, a self-report questionnaire, was used to measure dimensions of subclinical psychosis. Paternal age at the time of respondents' birth and age of paternity were assessed by self-report. We assessed the influence of the variables of interest (paternal age or paternity age) on CAPE scores after adjusting for potential confounders (age, gender, and ethnicity). Paternal age was positively associated with the positive dimension of the CAPE. By contrast, paternity age was not associated with any of the psychosis dimensions assessed by the CAPE. Thus, our results do not support the idea that delayed fatherhood explains the association between age of paternity and psychosis risk. Furthermore, our results provide arguments for the hypothesis of an etiologic continuum of psychosis.

AB - Advanced paternal age has been consistently associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia. It is less known if such an association also exists with subclinical/attenuated forms of psychosis. Additionally, it has been suggested that it is not paternal age per se, but rather delayed fatherhood, as a marker of a genetic liability of psychosis, that is the cause of the association. The aim of the current study was to examine whether paternal age and/or delayed fatherhood (paternity age) predict self-reported positive, negative, and/ or depressive dimensions of psychosis in a large sample from the general population. The sample (N = 1465) was composed of control subjects from the 6 countries participating in the European Union Gene-Environment Interaction study. The CAPE, a self-report questionnaire, was used to measure dimensions of subclinical psychosis. Paternal age at the time of respondents' birth and age of paternity were assessed by self-report. We assessed the influence of the variables of interest (paternal age or paternity age) on CAPE scores after adjusting for potential confounders (age, gender, and ethnicity). Paternal age was positively associated with the positive dimension of the CAPE. By contrast, paternity age was not associated with any of the psychosis dimensions assessed by the CAPE. Thus, our results do not support the idea that delayed fatherhood explains the association between age of paternity and psychosis risk. Furthermore, our results provide arguments for the hypothesis of an etiologic continuum of psychosis.

KW - CAPE

KW - Epidemiology

KW - Paternal age

KW - Psychotic experiences

KW - Risk factors

KW - Schizotypy

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097030582&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/schbul/sbz142

DO - 10.1093/schbul/sbz142

M3 - Article

C2 - 32049353

AN - SCOPUS:85097030582

SN - 0586-7614

VL - 46

SP - 1327

EP - 1334

JO - Schizophrenia bulletin

JF - Schizophrenia bulletin

IS - 5

ER -