does your parents’ age affect your risk of bipolar disorder?

children of very young parents, or older parents, may have an increased risk of bipolar disorder.

by dave yasvinski

published oct 18, 2022

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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parents' age may contribute to risk of bipolar disorder

bipolar disorder is a medical condition that causes a person’s mood to fluctuate between high periods of great happiness and low intervals of sadness or despair. getty

a new study has found that children born to younger or older parents face an increased — but moderate — risk of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. according to the study, published in the journal european neuropsychopharmacology, the risk rises for children born to a mother or father younger than 20 years of age, to a mother older than 35 or to a father older than 45. bipolar disorder, one of the most common, serious mental illnesses, is known to have a strong genetic component — if one parent has the condition, there is a 15 to 30 per cent chance the child will as well.

“parental age is a factor which affects many conditions, such as fertility and some neuropsychiatric disorders,” said giovanna fico, the study lead from the university of barcelona. “what we have found is slightly unusual because both younger and older parents carry an increased risk of having a child with bipolar disorder. the increased risk is moderate, but real.

“we can speculate that younger parents may be affected by environmental factors, such as socio-economic problems, lack of support — but also stress or immunological factors — and that older parents may have genetic factors coming into play but the truth is we don’t really know.”

bipolar disorder is a medical condition that causes a person’s mood to fluctuate between high periods of great happiness and low intervals of sadness or despair. the biochemical condition, which is the result of an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain, typically results in three states: a high state (known as mania), a low state (depression) and a well state (during which patients may feel few to no symptoms). just over two per cent of canadians will experience bipolar disorder at some point in their lives.

to arrive at their findings, the team performed a systemic review of a series of studies that connect bipolar disorder with age. this research included 13,424,760 participants from multiple countries, 217,089 of whom had been diagnosed with the disorder. they found that older men faced a 29 per cent higher risk of having a child with bipolar disorder than fathers between the ages of 25 and 29. older women, similarly, were 20 per cent more likely to see the disorder develop in their offspring than women aged 25 to 29.

mothers who were younger than 20 also faced increased risks (23 per cent) compared to this age group, as did fathers (29 per cent). researchers said they accounted for bias, including familial history and the age of the other parent, in their analysis.

“again, we must stress that this risk is moderate and it must be kept in perspective,” fico said. “however, for those already at risk, age is another factor that should be taken into consideration and so it may be that doctors need to counsel both younger and older couples if they have a risk of bipolar disorder. we also see this u-shaped curve in some other conditions, such as autism and some cardiovascular diseases.”

according to the team, the work raises the tantalizing possibility of early detection and intervention efforts for people who struggle with the disorder. they are planning to conduct a follow up study that includes environmental factors that might relate to the risk of a diagnosis and the progression of the illness itself.

“for example, we would like to explore how the exposure to pollution, climate change and urbanization might affect the risk of some psychiatric disorders and we want to try to understand if these factors help or worsen the course of the disorder.”

dave yasvinski is a writer with  healthing.ca

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