A study published in this month’s General Archives of Psychiatry entitled “Advancing Paternal Age and Bipolar Disorder,” reports that children of older fathers have a higher risk of developing bipolar disorder than children of younger fathers. This is a large study, and the data are quite strong. Fathers age 40 and older show some increased risk of having a child with bipolar disorder, but the risk really grows with fathers ages 55 and older.

Advancing paternal age has been associated with some other conditions, including autism and schizophrenia. I’ll let others explain why this is so. The question is this: How do the results of this study help us?

The researchers are careful to point out that the results of the study shouldn’t discourage older men from having children. Although the risk of having a child who eventually develops bipolar increases with a father’s age, it is still very low. In other words, the results shouldn’t have too much influence on family planning.

The study doesn’t provide us with a lot of information useful in clinical practice, either. However, when evaluating individuals for depression and the possibility of bipolar disorder, doctors may want to include a question about how old the patient’s father was when the patient was born. Although this information may not be tremendously useful in guiding a diagnosis, it could be an interesting part of the whole picture of a patient’s illness.

This study also reinforces the biological nature of the roots of bipolar disorder – demonstrating a particular biological risk factor in the risks of someone developing this condition. Proof of a genetic link is always useful in convincing those who still need convincing that bipolar is a medical condition requiring medical treatment.

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