Bipolar disorder is one of the most common serious mental illnesses. People with it can go from feeling very happy to feeling very sad. It affects about 2% of the population and puts them at a high risk of suicide and early death. It is well known that bipolar disorder is highly heritable; there is a 15% to 30% risk that it will be passed on to a child if one parent has the condition.

Now a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal European Neuropsychopharmacology and presented at ECNP Congress in Vienna says that Bipolar disorder is more likely to affect children of parents who are either younger or older. This risk is higher if your mother or father was younger than 20 or older than 35, or 45. This trend results in a “U-Shaped Curve,” which demonstrates that there is a higher risk for both younger and older parents. 

Bipolar disorder, characterized by rapid and dramatic shifts in mood (from intense elation to extreme sadness), is one of the most prevalent major mental diseases, affecting about 2% of the population and carrying a high risk of suicide and early death. It is well known that bipolar disorder is highly heritable; there is a 15% to 30% risk that it will be passed on to a child if one parent has the condition.

Several illnesses, including fertility and several neuropsychiatric disorders, are impacted by parental age. 

What the authors of this “found is slightly unusual because both younger and older parents carry an increased risk of having a child with bipolar disorder,” says lead author Dr. Giovanna Fico.

“The increased risk,” the lead author adds, “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”.

The researchers, who came from Spain, Italy, Australia, and the Netherlands, did a systematic review of studies from different countries that looked at how age affects bipolar disorder. 13,424,760 individuals participated in the studies overall, 217,089 of whom had bipolar disorder. They discovered that older men had a greater likelihood of having a kid with bipolar disorder than other groups. In comparison to fathers aged 25 to 29, these men had a 29% higher chance of having a child with bipolar disorder, while older women had a 20% higher chance. The higher odds were 23% (for moms) to 29% (for dads) in parents under the age of 20. All analyses were adjusted for potential sources of bias, such as a family history of bipolar disorder and the age of the other parent.

“Again, we must stress that this risk is moderate, and it must be kept in perspective,” adds the author. 

But, “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”.

They “are planning to study several environmental factors which might be related to the risk of bipolar disorder, but also to its course of illness.” 

“For example, we would like to explore how the exposure to pollution, climate changes, 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”.

Professor Maj Vinberg from the University of Copenhagen commented and said:

This is an “interesting systematic review article,” comments Professor Maj Vinberg from the University of Copenhagen, who was not involved in the study, that talks about “children of young parents (up to 20 years) have a greater risk of developing bipolar affective disorder. The same pattern is seen in older parents, defined as fathers over 45 and mothers over 35.

The study raises several exciting research questions, including the possibility of early prevention and intervention. For example, in the daily clinical settings, it is crucial to be aware that young individuals with BD in their manic phases have more risky sexual behavior, which can associate with an increased pregnancy risk”.

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