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Delayed fatherhood linked to Schizophrenic kids

posted by LaminatorX on Friday February 21 2014, @03:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the totally-getting-snipped-for-my-birthday-this-year dept.

robingHood writes:

"New Scientist Magazine reports on findings that suggest that delaying fatherhood may increase the risk of fathering children with disorders such as Apert syndrome, Autism and Schizophrenia. The article reports that 'although there is a big increase in risk for many disorders, it's a big increase in a very small risk. A 40-year-old is about 50 per cent more likely to father an autistic child than a 20-year-old is, for instance, but the overall risk is only about 1 per cent to start with.' In other words: time to start mating before those tadpoles turn into toads."

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by GungnirSniper on Friday February 21 2014, @03:29AM

    by GungnirSniper (1671) on Friday February 21 2014, @03:29AM (#4041) Journal

    This is similar to the maternal age effect which shows a correlation with chromosomal abnormalities including Down Syndrome. [wikipedia.org]

    I wonder if this is an evolutionary 'benefit' in a way. For eons, women had many children from their teen years on. If they managed to have a child with one of these problems, it didn't affect the passing forward of the mother's genes. Could the Downs child be reproductive nature's retirement plan, helping to take care of the mother?

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 21 2014, @04:54AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 21 2014, @04:54AM (#4084)

    i think it is rather an evolutionary artifact. our average life expectancy runs past our evolutionary grooming. if teenage moms were the norm, there would be no way to select for/against a disease that occurred when someone was in their 40s.

  • (Score: 1) by JimmyCrackCorn on Friday February 21 2014, @05:33AM

    by JimmyCrackCorn (1495) on Friday February 21 2014, @05:33AM (#4102)

    Ok, There was this egg that turned into a chicken.

    Genetic change is what happens.

    I like eggs.

    Old sperm is corrupt with change.

    Bring on the next.