[The association between paternal age and schizophrenia in a Chinese Han population].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether advanced paternal age is related to an increased risk of schizophrenia in Chinese Han population. METHODS: A case-control design study was performed. Three hundred and fifty-one patients with schizophrenia and 199 unrelated healthy volunteers were recruited. By using Logistic regression, paternal age was divided into five categories, and maternal age into four categories. Setting the paternal age of 26-30 years as reference, the OR, P values and 95% CI of the other paternal age categories were analyzed, respectively. The participant's sex, age and parental age at birth were used as covariants for adjusting confounding effects. RESULTS: The OR for schizophrenia in offspring whose paternal age at birth of 31-35 years, 36-40 years, and ≥ 41 years categories were 3.834, 8.805, and 11.619 respectively. The advanced maternal age had no significant effects on the risk for schizophrenia in offspring. CONCLUSION: The advanced paternal age was associated with elevated risk for schizophrenia in offspring among a Han Chinese population. Putative biological mechanisms may include accumulated de novo mutations and alterations in epigenetic regulations with aging in spermatogenesis.

Family Dynamics and Grandparents' Anxiety and Depression in Intergenerational Rearing Families: A Correlational Study.

Background: In China, intergenerational rearing is a ubiquitous phenomenon based on unique national conditions. This study aimed to explore family dynamics in intergenerational rearing families as well as their correlation with older household members' anxiety and depression. Methods: The elderly from intergenerational (n = 141) and non-intergenerational rearing families (n = 266) were investigated using the following scales: the general information questionnaire, Self-Rating Scale of Systemic Family Dynamics, Geriatric Depression Scale, and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Results: Scores from the four dimensions (family atmosphere, system logic, individuation, and the concept of disease) of the structure of family dynamics were computed. The comparison of these dimensions scores and the total scores of grandparents' anxiety and depression for the two groups were not statistically significant (p > 0.05). In Pearson's correlation analysis, no significant correlation between the family atmosphere dimension and the total score of the grandparents' depression and anxiety scales was observed. The system logic aspect was negatively correlated with depression and anxiety scale scores. The individual dimension was positively correlated with the anxiety scale scores. The disease concept dimension was positively correlated with depression and anxiety scale scores. Hence, the results were statistically significant. Conclusion: There were no significant differences in terms of family dynamics and risk of anxiety and depression among grandparents between the two family types. The system logic, individuation, and disease concept dimensions were correlated with their anxiety and depression.

Gender-specific interactions between alcohol metabolism genes and severity of quantitative alcohol-related-traits in a Tibetan population.

Association between genes influencing alcohol metabolism and alcohol use disorders (AUD) has been extensively studied, but the effect of interactions between these genes and AUD have rarely been tested. Our previous case-control study in a Tibetan population noted that the positive association between c2 allele of cytochrome P4502E1 (CYP2E1) gene and AUD might only exist in males who are homozygotes for 1 alleles of aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) and alcohol dehydrogenase-1B (ADH1B) genes, but this interaction did not reach statistical significance. Using the same set of data, the present study was aimed at exploring interactions between these genes and quantitative alcohol-related-trait scores (QARTs), and whether these are influenced by gender. The sample included 383 AUD cases with the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) score ≥10 and 350 normal controls with the AUDIT score ≤5. QARTs were measured using three factors from AUDIT. Possible associations of QARTs with interactions among genotypes of ALDH2 1/ 2, ADH1B1/2 and CYP2E1 c1/c2 and sex were analyzed in AUD cases and normal controls separately. The subjects with 2 alleles of ALDH2 or/and ADH1B had significantly lower scores of alcohol intake among controls but had significantly higher scores of alcohol related problems among cases. The score of alcohol intake in male cases who are homozygous for ALDH2 1 and ADH1B 1 and with CYP2E1 c2 allele was significantly higher than that of other cases. These findings suggest that interactions between genes influencing alcohol metabolism are influenced by gender and might affect QARTs differently between the milder-/non-drinkers and AUD cases.