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Older dads a worrisome trend?
Filed under: Babies, Just For Dads, Divorce & Custody, Work Life, Health & Safety: Babies, Medical Conditions, Development/Milestones: Babies, Sex
With increasing effectiveness and availability of fertility treatments, many female celebrities have set the precedent for becoming motherhood later in life, after their careers are firmly established. And for the past couple of years older moms have received a lot of press. For the most part however, no one has given much thought to older dads.
According to this article however, men who become fathers later in life are increasingly common. And it has long been assumed that men are not affected by complications the way women are, the longer they wait to have kids.
But this trend might be alarming. A recent study found that older dads are more likely to have children born with autism.
Mutations in the sperm of older men contribute to a "significantly higher risk of having children with autism" according researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA. Their study found that men over 40 have a greatly increased risk of fathering children with autism, compared to men under 30.
According to this article however, men who become fathers later in life are increasingly common. And it has long been assumed that men are not affected by complications the way women are, the longer they wait to have kids.
But this trend might be alarming. A recent study found that older dads are more likely to have children born with autism.
Mutations in the sperm of older men contribute to a "significantly higher risk of having children with autism" according researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, USA. Their study found that men over 40 have a greatly increased risk of fathering children with autism, compared to men under 30.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
1-26-2008 @ 10:57AM
lisa said...i guess anything to get the focus off vaccinations
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1-26-2008 @ 11:42AM
Nicola said...Can we possibly get an answer about what DOES NOT cause autism? That might actually be informative. Since pretty much every other factor in life seems to be a "potential cause of autism". "Disease" of the moment. Too broad a label. Too many environmental factors to count. These stories have grown tiresome in the extreme.
For the record, my husband is in his 50s and father to our nearly 4 year old son. The only problem with his sperm seems to have been the creation of the world's most willful, cheeky, and contrary child ever born! Is that a disease?
Reply
1-26-2008 @ 12:48PM
Uly said...How long has it been assumed that fathers' health and age didn't affect babies? Because I learned back in high school that the age of the father is a predictor for schizophrenia, with the strong implication that it also related to other conditions, and that wasn't *that* recently.
Reply
1-26-2008 @ 1:43PM
Meagan said...I think older fathers have been linked with heightened rates in birth defects as well...
I got the impression that these statistics suggested the risks with an older father were still considerably lower than with an older mother. Plenty of mothers have children later these days, and most of them (the children) are perfectly healthy. That doesn't mean they aren't more at risk, but then, the bigger risk doesn't mean they shouldn't have children.
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1-26-2008 @ 2:05PM
Judy said...My husband is 46, and we have sons who are almost 4 and almost 2, and we're planning on having more.
I realize there are *increased* risks the older both parents get (I'll be turning 30 this year), but I don't believe those risks are great enough to keep us from considering more children. Two healthy 25-year-olds could have a child with birth defects, too, while two 50-year-olds might have a perfectly healthy child.
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1-26-2008 @ 6:04PM
lisa said...this is ridiculous...someone is always gonna try and come up with something to scare you or worry you....i had my first son when i was 28, my daughter at 32, my youngest daughter at 39 and are trying for a 4th...we are in our 40's...with our youngest they said i was a prime candidate to have a downs child due to a blood test that showed positive for something...we did the advanced ultrasound and it was questionable....she was born and she was perfect...i found out later that i was a prime candidate because of my age only....this time i will refuse the blood tests that test for it because i will already be a candidate for it again....these studies are a dime a dozen and i wish they would stop the nonsense...
Reply
1-27-2008 @ 8:18PM
Sandyone said...Lisa, that was the AFP/triple marker test. It's pretty much guaranteed to be "positive" for women over 35. It's total BS to even offer it to us old folks! The BS factor for younger women is really high, too, as the test is only accurate 85% of the time for the younger set. 85%??? Puh-lease....I wouldn't bring home a spelling test with such a low score, let alone risk my peace of mind over my baby's health over it.
4-07-2011 @ 12:07PM
the yapper said...The world is over populated already...do you need to have more? Why don't you do something worthwhile for the world and adopt one or two...if you love kids so much...also it's been known forever that the older you are your chances of having a child with problems increases....nature made us to have kids when we're young. Those studies have been around forever.
1-26-2008 @ 6:22PM
Ethel said...There are other disorders that associated with older fathers, like Apert syndrome, achondroplasia, Down's syndrome (and I remember a certain biology prof who got florid when I questioned that Down's syndrome was merely related to moms when meiosis is meiosis regardless of the gametes being made - I guess he was wrong and I was right), Marfan's syndrome, nevermind the increase in rates of miscarriage with an older father. The truth is that men have a biological clock too, despite their efforts to ignore it. As much as we'd like to say otherwise, getting older has its consequences in reproduction too.
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