Men should start a family before the age of 35 to avoid risk to their unborn babies, according to some researchers. It is now scientifically evident that men also have biological clocks. This is interesting news.
A study tracking 40million babies found the risk of birth complications start to increase when fathers are in their mid-30s, and significantly rise from the age of 45.
For decades women have been told they will put their children at risk if they pursue a career first and leave it until they are older to start a family.
But the new study, published in the British Medical Journal, shows men should also take responsibility according to www.dailymail.co.uk. Men should start having children before they are 35 to avoid having children with birth defects or born prematurely.
Researcher Professor Michael Eisenberg, of Stanford University School of Medicine, said: ‘We tend to look at maternal factors in evaluating associated birth risks.
‘But this study shows that having a healthy baby is a team sport, and the father’s age contributes to the baby’s health, too.’
He said once a father hits 35, there’s a slight increase in birth defects, but the risk increases more sharply as men age into their 40s and 50s.
This is because with every year that a man ages, he accumulates on two new mutations in the DNA of his sperm.
Compared with fathers between the ages of 25 and 34, infants born to men between the age of 35 and 44 were about five per cent more likely to be born premature or of low birth weight.
For men aged 45 or older they were 14 per cent more likely to be admitted to intensive care, 14 per cent more likely to be born prematurely, 18 per cent more likely to have seizures and 14 per cent more likely to have a low birth weight.
If a father was 50 or older, the likelihood that their infant would need ventilation upon birth increased by 10 per cent, and the odds that they would require intensive care increased by 28 per cent.
Professor Eisenberg added: ‘What was really surprising was that there seemed to be an association between advanced paternal age and the chance that the mother would develop diabetes during pregnancy.’
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
