Risk Factors

There have been various studies on risk factors in schizophrenia.

The non-genetic risk factors have been meta-reviewed by Matheson et al. (2011).

The current group has recently studied paternal age as risk factor for schizophrenia (Miller et al. 2011). In the meta-analysis on advanced paternal age as risk factor for schizophrenia, we found that there was a significant increase in risk of schizophrenia in the offspring of older fathers (≥30) compared to a reference paternal age of 25-29. The relative risk in the oldest fathers (≥50) was 1.66 (95% CI 1.46-1.89, p<0.01) when compared to fathers age 20 to 25 years (Miller et al. 2011).

References

Matheson SL, Shepherd AM, Laurens KR, Carr VJ. A systematic meta-review grading the evidence for non-genetic risk factors and putative antecedents of schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2011;133:133-42.

Miller B, Messias E, Miettunen J, Alaräisänen A, Järvelin M-R, Koponen H, Räsänen P, Isohanni M, Kirkpatrick B. Meta-analysis of paternal age and schizophrenia risk in male versus female offspring. Schizophr Bull 2011; 37:1039-47.