Advanced paternal age, mortality, and suicide in the general population

Abstract

Advanced paternal age is a risk factor for adverse health outcomes in the offspring. In a population-based birth cohort from Finland, 10,965 singleton offspring born in 1966 and alive at age 1 were followed to age 39. Hazard ratios were calculated, adjusting for maternal age, gender, paternal social class, and maternal parity. In females but not in males, increasing paternal age was associated with a linear increased risk of suicide (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04-1.24, p < 0.01) and all-causes mortality (HR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.01-1.10, p = 0.02). Increasing maternal age was associated with a significantly decreased risk of suicide (HR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.86-1.00, p = 0.04) and all-causes mortality (HR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.93-1, p = 0.02) in the entire cohort. For paternal age >/=30, the population attributable risk percentage was 13.7% for all deaths and 7.5% for suicides. Parental age at birth may affect suicide and all-causes mortality risk in the offspring in the general population. The causal pathways and specific disorders associated with this increased mortality are largely unknown.