The average age of getting married is rising as people spend more time in school. Consequently, many are also delaying having children. It is common knowledge that there's a link between maternal age and offspring health, however, a new study has found that the father's age is also linked to his offspring's risk of developing early psychosis.


These days, many people are spending more time in school, thereby delaying marriage and having children. The average childbearing age has risen from 27.2 in 1991 to 32 in 2017. The average age of fathers increased from 30.3 in 1991 to 34.5 in 2017. A recent National Taiwan University and Chinese Medical University study found that a child's risk of developing early psychosis increases as the father's age increases.

If the father's age is over 30, the risk of his offspring developing early psychosis increases. If the father's age is over 50, the risk of his offspring developing the illness is 60 to 70 percent higher than that of the children fathered by men aged 25 to 29.

Moreover, an analysis of a foreign study on the link between the age of fathers and the health of their offspring shows that when a father's age is between 30 and 34, the risk of the next generation suffering from psychosis increases by 6 percent. If the father's age is over 50, the risk increases by 66 percent. After the multinational NTU and CMU research team controlled fathers' genetic risk of mental illnesses, it found that the offspring's risk increases by 30 percent with every 10-year increase in the father's age.

It's related to the father's own genes. If his parents don't have them, that is to say that they didn't come from paternal grandparents, then small errors occur during the cell division process because the age is too high.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare says it is aware of the link between delaying marriage and having children and the health issues of offspring and is treating this as an urgent public health issue.



國人受教育年數越來越長，不只平均結婚年齡上升，連帶讓生育年齡變晚；根據內政部統計資料，母親平均生育年齡從民國80年的27.2歲，上升到民國106年的32歲，父親平均生育年齡則更高，從民國80年的30.3歲，上升到民國106年的34.5歲。一分台大和中國醫藥大學，最新的研究報告指出，父親生育年齡過高，小孩得到精神疾病的風險也會增加。

中國醫藥大學公衛系助理教授 王世亨表示：「如果男性的生育年齡，超過30歲的話，越晚的話，他子代得到精神疾病的風險就會越高，甚至男性的生育年齡，如果超過50歲的話，那跟男性生育年齡在25到29歲相比的話，他的子代得到精神疾病的風險會增加60%到70%。」

此外國外一分針對男性生育年齡，與下一代健康之間的相關，進行整合性分析的研究，發現父親生育年齡在30到34歲間，下一代罹患思覺失調症的風險增加6%，如果父親生育年齡在50歲以上時，下一代患病的風險，則會增加66%。而台大與中國醫藥大學的跨國研究團隊，在控制了父親的精神疾病遺傳風險後，發現父親生育年齡每延後10歲，下一代患病風險會增加30%。

台大公衛學院教授 陳為堅表示：「是在父親的自己的(基因)，父母親裡面沒有的，就是說不是從祖父母那邊來的，是因為你年齡太大了以後，他在這個分裂的，也就是說產生生殖細胞，過程裡面一些小的錯誤。」

衛福部也指出，國人晚婚與生育兒女的年齡越來越晚，所可能引起的下一代健康問題，已經成為迫切討論的公共衛生議題。