Incidence of Advanced Maternal Age in Mothers of One Thousand State Hospital Patients

Advanced maternal age has been shown to be related to a number of pathologic conditions in the offspring. While considerable attention has been devoted to a study of maternal age as related to such conditions as achondroplasia,1congenital cranial osteoporosis,2multiple births,3monstrosities4and abnormally large fetuses,5the maternal age at birth of children who subsequently become psychotic has received little emphasis. Gordon6reported 30 cases. His conclusion that "late marriage seems to favor the development of mental disorders in the offspring" seems rather sweeping on the basis of such a small series. Kawin7made the statement that parents of problem children tend to be slightly older than average. In general, however, the age of mothers at the time of birth of children who subsequently become psychotic has been almost universally ignored. Several conditions involving the central nervous system have been shown to