Skip to main content
American Journal of Human Genetics logoLink to American Journal of Human Genetics
. 1981 Jan;33(1):123–128.

Paternal age and Down syndrome in British Columbia.

E B Hook, P K Cross, S H Lamson, R R Regal, P A Baird, S H Uh
PMCID: PMC1684867  PMID: 6451171

Abstract

Among Down syndrome cases born in 1964--1976 reported to the British Columbia Registry for Handicapped Children, the mean parental age was about half a year greater than in the entire population of live births after controlling for maternal age, a difference significant at the .05 level. After adjustment for maternal age, a regression analysis was consistent with an increase of 1.024-fold for each year of paternal age. Among Down syndrome cases in 1952--1963, however, for which ascertainment appears likely to be less complete, there was no evidence for a significant paternal age effect. The reasons for the variation between the two groups investigated here and the heterogeneity in results among studies of other populations are discussed.

Full text

PDF
123

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Erickson J. D. Down syndrome, paternal age, maternal age and birth order. Ann Hum Genet. 1978 Jan;41(3):289–298. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.1978.tb01896.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Erickson J. D. Paternal age and Down syndrome. Am J Hum Genet. 1979 Jul;31(4):489–497. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Hansson A., Mikkelsen M. The origin of the extra chromosome 21 in Down syndrome. Studies of fluorescent variants and satelite association in 26 informative families. Cytogenet Cell Genet. 1978;20(1-6):194–203. doi: 10.1159/000130851. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hook E. B., Fabia J. J. Frequency of Down syndrome in livebirths by single-year maternal age interval: results of a Massachusetts study. Teratology. 1978 Jun;17(3):223–228. doi: 10.1002/tera.1420170303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Hook E. B., Lindsjö A. Down syndrome in live births by single year maternal age interval in a Swedish study: comparison with results from a New York State study. Am J Hum Genet. 1978 Jan;30(1):19–27. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Lowry R. B., Jones D. C., Renwick D. H., Trimble B. K. Down syndrome in British Columbia, 1952-73: incidence and mean maternal age. Teratology. 1976 Aug;14(1):29–34. doi: 10.1002/tera.1420140105. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lowry R. B., Miller J. R., Scott A. E., Renwick D. H. The British Columbia Registry for Handicapped Children and Adults: evolutionary changes over twenty years. Can J Public Health. 1975 Jul-Aug;66(4):322–326. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mantel N., Stark C. R. Paternal age in Down's syndrome. Am J Ment Defic. 1967 May;71(6):1025–1027. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Matsunaga E., Tonomura A., Oishi H., Kikuchi Y. Reexamination of paternal age effect in Down's syndrome. Hum Genet. 1978 Feb 16;40(3):259–268. doi: 10.1007/BF00272186. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Morgan P. P., Sherrington A. Where have all the editorialists gone? Can Med Assoc J. 1981 Jul 15;125(2):131–131. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Sigler A. T., Cohen B. H., Lilienfeld A. M., Westlake J. E., Hetznecker W. H. Reproductive and marital experience of parents of children with Down's syndrome (mongolism). J Pediatr. 1967 Apr;70(4):608–614. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(67)80046-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Stene J., Fischer G., Stene E., Mikkelsen M., Petersen E. Paternal age effect in Down's syndrome. Ann Hum Genet. 1977 Jan;40(3):299–306. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-1809.1977.tb00194.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from American Journal of Human Genetics are provided here courtesy of American Society of Human Genetics

RESOURCES