Paternal Age and General Cognitive Ability—A Cross Sectional Study of Danish Male Conscripts

McGrath, John J.; Mortensen, Preben Bo; Pedersen, Carsten Bøcker; Ehrenstein, Véra; Petersen, Liselotte

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0077444

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 40 publications

(47 reference statements)

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“…The sibling-comparison analysis gave a similar result. This is consistent with two previous studies4546, although two others4449 found least some decline in offspring intelligence among older mothers as well as younger ones. Most of these studies found that associations of maternal and paternal age with offspring intelligence were similar, both before and after adjustment.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

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Associations of parental age with health and social factors in adult offspring. Methodological pitfalls and possibilities

Carslake

Tynelius

Berg

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Parental age is increasing rapidly in many countries. Analysis of this potentially important influence on offspring well-being is hampered by strong secular trends and socioeconomic patterning and by a shortage of follow-up data for adult offspring. We used Swedish national data on up to 3,653,938 offspring to consider the associations of parental age with a suite of outcomes in adult offspring, comparing the results from an array of statistical methods for optimal causal inference. The offspring of older mothers had higher BMI, blood pressure, height, intelligence, non-cognitive ability and socioeconomic position. They were less likely to smoke or to be left-handed. Associations with paternal age were strongly, but not completely, attenuated by adjustment for maternal age. Estimates from the commonly-used sibling comparison method were driven primarily by a pathway mediated by offspring date of birth when outcomes showed strong secular trends. These results suggest that the intra-uterine and early life environments provided by older mothers may be detrimental to offspring cardiovascular health, but that their greater life experience and social position may bring intellectual and social advantages to their offspring. The analysis of parental age presents particular challenges, and further methodological developments are needed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This is consistent with most previous studies of offspring intelligence444546, educational achievement121347 and social adjustment48. There is less consistency across studies once adjustment is attempted, due perhaps in part to the different approaches taken.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Associations of parental age with health and social factors in adult offspring. Methodological pitfalls and possibilities

Carslake

Tynelius

Berg

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…However, the finding that young maternal age is associated with a lower mean IQ of young adult offspring is consistent with three large studies [3, 15, 45]. McGrath et al[45] using a cross-sectional study (n = 169,009) found that the offspring at age 18 years who born to teenage mothers had a lower mean IQ of -1.69 (95% CI: -2.03 to -1.34) after adjusting for parental age and education, birth order, multiple birth status, birth weight and gestational age. McGrath and colleagues reported offspring of teenage fathers also had a lower IQ (Mean difference -0.69; 95% CI: -1.34, -0.04).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Do children born to teenage parents have lower adult intelligence? A prospective birth cohort study

et al. 2017

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Teenage motherhood has been associated with a wide variety of negative offspring outcomes including poorer cognitive development. In the context of limitations of previous research, this paper assesses the contemporary relevance of this finding. In this study we investigate the long-term cognitive status (IQ) among 21 year adult offspring born to teenage parents using the Mater University Study of Pregnancy- a prospective birth cohort study, which recruited all pregnant mothers attending a large obstetrical hospital in Brisbane, Australia, from 1981 to 1983. The analyses were restricted to a sub-sample of 2643 mother-offspring pair. Offspring IQ was measured using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test at 21 year. Parental age was reported at first clinic visit. Offspring born to teenage mothers (<20 years) have -3.0 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): -4.3, -1.8) points lower IQ compared to children born to mothers ≥20 years and were more likely to have a low IQ (Odds Ratio (OR) 1.7; 95% CI: 1.3, 2.3). Adjustment for a range of confounding and mediating factors including parental socioeconomic status, maternal IQ, maternal smoking and binge drinking in pregnancy, birthweight, breastfeeding and parenting style attenuates the association, though the effect remains statistically significant (-1.4 IQ points; 95% CI: -2.8,-0.1). Similarly the risk of offspring having low IQ remained marginally significantly higher in those born to teenage mothers (OR 1.3; 95% CI: 1.0, 1.9). In contrast, teenage fatherhood is not associated with adult offspring IQ, when adjusted for maternal age. Although the reduction in IQ is quantitatively small, it is indicative of neurodevelopmental disadvantage experienced by the young adult offspring of teenage mothers. Our results suggest that public policy initiatives should be targeted not only at delaying childbearing in the population but also at supporting early life condition of children born to teenage mothers to minimize the risk for disadvantageous outcomes of the next generation.

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“…In an effort to avoid or reduce the risk of bias due to confounding factors, we examined whether an independent effect of infections on general cognitive ability could be detected in a model adjusting for other factors known to influence the cognitive ability (e.g. parental education, gestational age, birth weight and birth order) [ 16 ]. Additionally, we explored a possible dose-response relationship, the temporal associations, severity, and the effect of the type and site of the infection.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Association between Infections and General Cognitive Ability in Young Men – A Nationwide Study

et al. 2015

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BackgroundInfections and activated immune responses can affect the brain through several pathways that might also affect cognition. However, no large-scale study has previously investigated the effect of infections on the general cognitive ability in the general population.MethodsDanish nationwide registers were linked to establish a cohort of all 161,696 male conscripts during the years 2006–2012 who were tested for cognitive ability, which was based on logical, verbal, numerical and spatial reasoning at a mean age of 19.4 years. Test scores were converted to a mean of 100.00 and with a standard deviation (SD) of 15. Data were analyzed as a cohort study with severe infections requiring hospitalization as exposure using linear regression.ResultsAdjusted effect sizes were calculated with non-exposure to severe infections as reference, ranging from 0.12 SD to 0.63 SD on general cognitive ability. A prior infection was associated with significantly lower cognitive ability by a mean of 1.76 (95%CI: -1.92 to -1.61; corresponding to 0.12 SD). The cognitive ability was affected the most by the temporal proximity of the last infection (P<0.001) and by the severity of infection measured by days of admission (P<0.001). The number of infections were associated with decreased cognitive ability in a dose-response relationship, and highest mean differences were found for ≥10 hospital contacts for infections (Mean: -5.54; 95%CI: -7.20 to -3.89; corresponding to 0.37 SD), and for ≥5 different types of infections (Mean: -9.44; 95%CI: -13.2 to -5.69; corresponding to 0.63 SD). Hospital contacts with infections had occurred in 35% of the individuals prior to conscription.ConclusionsIndependent of a wide range of possible confounders, significant associations between infections and cognitive ability were observed. Infections or related immune responses might directly affect the cognitive ability; however, associated heritable and environmental factors might also account for the lowered cognitive ability.

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Paternal Age and General Cognitive Ability—A Cross Sectional Study of Danish Male Conscripts

Cited by 13 publications

References 40 publications

Associations of parental age with health and social factors in adult offspring. Methodological pitfalls and possibilities

Associations of parental age with health and social factors in adult offspring. Methodological pitfalls and possibilities

Do children born to teenage parents have lower adult intelligence? A prospective birth cohort study

The Association between Infections and General Cognitive Ability in Young Men – A Nationwide Study

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