Increased risk of bipolar disorder for children of very young or very old parents

Children born to parents either very young or old, face an increased risk of developing later bipolar disorder (former manic depression), as a new international scientific study concludes.

The risk is greater for children born to a mother or father under the age of 20, as well as those whose mother was over 35 or father over 45 at birth.

Investigators from four countries (Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia), led by Dr. Giovanna Fico of the University of Barcelona, ​​who made the relevant announcement at the conference of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology in Vienna (October 15-18) and publication in the corresponding journal “European Neuropsychopharmacology’, conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of all published research on bipolar disorder in relation to age. In total analyzed data on approximately 13.43 million people, of whom 217,089 had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Found out that in general older men (over 45) are more likely (by 29%) to have a child with such a mental condition than fathers aged 25 to 29, while older mothers are 20% more likely to have a child with bipolar disorder, compared to women aged 25-29. Regarding very young parents up to 20 years of age, the risk of having a child with bipolar disorder is increased by 23% for mothers and 29% for fathers respectively.

“Parental age is a factor that affects many things, like fertility and some neuropsychiatric disorders. What we found is slightly unusual because both younger and older parents have an increased risk of having a child with bipolar disorder. The increased risk is modest, but real. We can speculate that for younger parents environmental factors such as socio-economic problems, lack of support, stress or immunological factors play a role, while for older parents genetic factors may be involved, but the truth is that we really don’t know said Dr. Fiko.

Bipolar disorder characterized by strong mood swings, from great euphoria to depression. It is quite common and about 2% of the population suffers from it to a greater or lesser extent. The disease, among other things, increases the risk of suicide and early death from another cause. It is considered highly hereditary and if one parent has bipolar disorder, then there is a 15% to 30% chance of passing it on to their children. Young people with the disease, when they are in a manic phase, have more risky behavior in sexual matters and not only.

See the scientific publication here

RES-EMP

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